


Cake

by matrixaffiliate



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 20:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 29,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15759390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matrixaffiliate/pseuds/matrixaffiliate
Summary: Molten chocolate lava cake can fix a bad day, among other things... A Modern Muggle AU Harry/Ginny fluff story. Complete. Everything belongs to JKR.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally posted on my FFN account on 11-16-17 and was finished on 6-1-18. It started as a two-shot and ended up a multi-chapter after some encouragement.

Ginny slid up to the bar in her favorite restaurant and signaled the bartender for a long island ice tea. The blind date had been disastrous. He had been an absolute ass and she had left the date as quickly as she could. The night was still early though and Ginny needed a chance to calm down, so she had gone to her favorite restaurant to have a drink and the most amazing molten chocolate lava cake she'd ever had. The bartender brought her drink and took her order for the dessert. Ginny took a long drink from the straw and sighed. _Could today just be over already?_

She turned as she heard footsteps and a man with dark hair in a sports coat and jeans came walking in and sat in the seat next to her, setting his elbows on the counter and resting his head in his hands, skewing his glasses up his forehead in the process. Ginny bit back the retort on her lips for his lack of consideration. He seemed to be having the same sort of day she'd been having. The blind date had been the icing on the cake. So in the hope of good karma, or whatever, she ignored the man and went back to her drink.

The bartender brought her cake and as he set the plate down the man started and looked up, glasses falling crooked back over his nose. He turned towards her and began to stammer.

"Sorry. I didn't see you here. I can move." He started to stand and she suddenly realized she didn't want him to leave. There was something comforting in knowing she wasn't the only one who was having a shit day.

"No. You're fine, really. I don't mind." Ginny smiled encouragingly and he seemed to take some comfort in that, sitting back on the stool and adjusting his glasses. He smiled back at her before ordering a beer which the bartender set down before moving on to other customers.

The man next to her took a long drink from his bottle, before setting it down and holding it between both hands.

"Thanks for not getting upset when I didn't ask to sit next to you. I really do try to be somewhat courteous normally, just, today has been a nightmare and I've let it get to me."

"Then you're in good company." Ginny smiled.

He smiled at her and Ginny felt her stomach clench a bit. "I'm Harry." He said offering his hand.

"Ginny." She noticed his hand seemed to slide perfectly around hers. _The alcohol is obviously getting to me_ she thinks and she shakes herself back to reality.

"Are those any good?" He asks gesturing to her cake.

"You've obviously never had one." She smirks. "These lava cakes are what make this my favorite restaurant."

"I've always been partial to their apple crisp if I'm honest. That's actually why I came here instead of just going to a bar, I couldn't decide if I wanted the apple crisp or not."

"Drowning your troubles in sugar?" Ginny laughs.

"Aren't you doing just that?" Harry smirks at her.

"I never said it was a bad thing." She parries, cutting into the cake and watching the melted chocolate seep out onto the plate. She takes a bite and almost melts with it.

"Should I leave the two of you alone?" Harry chuckles.

She jumps a bit and turns to glare at him. "You're just jealous that your apple crisp isn't as good."

He quirks an eyebrow at her. "Ok, what if we shared your lava cake and I order an apple crisp that we share after. Then we can decide which is better."

Ginny’s a bit taken aback by Harry's forwardness but the bad day has been enough to make her brash. "Deal. Order your apple crisp and then ask for a second fork. You'll soon see how misguided your dessert choices are."

After both desserts and a few more drinks, Harry and Ginny are laughing like they're old friends. Ginny orders the artichoke dip because "Harry you've obviously been hiding in a hole your whole life. How have you not had artichoke dip?" He responds by ordering the Buffalo wings because "Honestly, Gin, how could you order anything else after you've had these?"

Leaving the restaurant as the bar is closing, Ginny starts walking toward the sidewalk when Harry stops her. "I think the uber drivers prefer picking us up at the door." He chuckles.

His hand on her arm makes her stomach clench and she can feel the light blush on her cheeks. Praying he'll attribute it to the alcohol she tries to be calm and not fly off like a 14-year-old school girl. "I live in the apartments just down the block. I walked here so I figured I'd walk home."

"I'll walk you home then." He smiles, taking her arm in his. "I can always call for an uber at your place instead of here. It'll help to sober me up a bit too."

Ginny nods and leads the way down the road, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. It's been fun joking with Harry, and if he'd asked for her number she would have given it to him in a heartbeat, but showing him where she lives has her a bit on edge, even with her buzz. He must sense this because he stops a few yards down the sidewalk.

"I'm being creepy. I'm sorry. You're perfectly capable of walking yourself home, and I'm a complete stranger." He let's go of her arm and smiles. "It was nice to meet you, Ginny." He turns and starts walking back to the restaurant parking lot his phone in his hand as he's requesting a ride.

Ginny stands there watching him go, and a part of her is relieved, but part of her is screaming to stop him. Maybe it's the drinks or maybe it's how bad the day was until he showed up, or maybe it's fate, but Ginny throws caution to the winds and calls out.

"Harry! Hey, Harry!" And she's running up to him. Harry turns as she closes the distance between them. "I don't mind if you walk me home." She says. "I rather like your company actually."

Harry seems a bit taken aback and he's opening his mouth but nothing is coming out. Ginny takes comfort in that, perhaps he's as unsure as she is. "How about we split the ride and grab some coffee?" Ginny asks as Harry opens his mouth again and no sound emits.

He nods dumbly and they stand there awkwardly for a moment before Ginny realizes that neither has moved. "Er, had you already requested the ride?" She asks. That seems to start Harry from his silent state and he looks at his phone.

"Was just going to." They find the closest diner on his phone and request the ride, then sit awkwardly on the bench outside the now-closed restaurant waiting. Ginny wonders if maybe she shouldn't have called him back since now everything seems weird whereas before it was natural. Harry clears his throat and she's jarred from her thoughts as he speaks.

"So, er, Ginny, what do you do for work?" His hand runs nervously through his hair and Ginny notices it falls in every direction and her fingers itch to run through it.

"I'm a layout editor for a magazine." She responds, deciding to fold her hands in her lap, not trusting them to stay away from his hair.

"Interesting. So you get to pick what goes where then?" He asks, and he seems to be relaxing a bit now, helping Ginny to breathe a bit more too.

"Basically. There's an order for things, like the editor's article is always at the front, and every third or fourth page is an advertisement and that sort of thing, but I do get to pick how an article sits and where pictures go and fonts and whatnot. What about you? What do you do?"

"I run a software company." He stretches his arms up in the air before returning to his hunched position, elbows resting on his knees. "That's part of why I was so out of it this evening when I sat next to you. We were trying to work a buyout of another company and it turned into a disaster. Apparently, I didn't notice some embezzlement happening on the VP level, nothing too huge, but something that the other company caught. It ruined the sale and they more or less told us they were going to tell everyone what happened. I've canned the idiot who was embezzling and the lawyers are working everything else out, but the company may ask me to step down." Harry stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry. You really don't need to listen to this."

Ginny put a comforting hand on his arm. "It's fine Harry, really. If it makes you feel any better my day wasn't much happier. I got into an email fight with the head editor. We're a sports magazine and I didn't like some of the pictures he wanted to use for the women's tennis article. Then one of the copy editors didn't catch a mistake in the spelling of an athlete's name and it made it to print so the entire department got a talking to. To top it all off I went on an absolute disastrous blind date. So yeah, I can relate."

Harry chuckled, "A right pair we are." He's leaning in close to her, and Ginny is seriously considering closing the distance between them when the uber pulls up in front of them and they both start. Harry let's out a nervous laugh and runs a hand through his hair before standing and offering Ginny his hand.

They climb into the car and end up at the diner, a mile or so away. The easy manner returns as they joke over coffee and scones, sharing stories from work and college and childhood. It's as the sun starts to creep onto the horizon that they realize how late, or early, it is.

"Should we get another ride?" Harry asks as he lays out a few bills on the table.

"I'm thinking that a walk might be good. I don't think I'll be able to sleep if I don't tire myself out a bit first." Ginny laughs.

"Mind if I walk with you as far as the restaurant? I left my car there." Harry asks, avoiding her gaze.

"I'd like that." Ginny's smiling as they stand and walk out the door and start the mile or so back to Harry's car.

The walk is full of good-natured teasing and at some point, their hands brush against each other and they both tentatively reach out until they're walking hand in hand.

They make it to Harry's car all too soon, and Ginny is trying to come up with some way to stall when Harry does it for her. "I'm sure you could walk the rest of the way just fine," he says nervously, "but if you wanted a ride home, I'd be happy to give you one."

Ginny's smile is stretched wide across her face and she nods as he walks over to the passenger side door and opens it for her. The drive to her apartment is short and they're both awkwardly trying to find the right way to end this, whatever it is, but neither really wants it to end.

"Er," Ginny starts, "so it was nice to meet you, Harry." She stammers.

"It was great meeting you too, Gin." Harry agrees, running his hand nervously through his hair. "Say, er." He pauses and Ginny is holding her breath. "If, if I wanted to see you again."

"I'd like that." Ginny finally breathes. Her chest feels like it might burst, but she's forcing herself to stay at least reasonably calm.

The smile on Harry's face looks like it might break his face. "Great! Er. Yeah! Ok so, do you have plans tonight?"

Ginny giggles in spite of herself. "No, but I'm guessing I do now."

Harry chuckles. "Only if you want to." She nods and Harry's smile seems to get bigger if that's even possible. "Pick you up at 7?" He asks.

"Sounds great."

They exchange numbers and she gets out of the car, sharing a shy smile with him before she enters her building.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry wakes up to his phone notifying him of yet another email. It's Saturday, why doesn't anyone in c-staff actually take a weekend? He's equally guilty he knows, but he'd been dreaming of a gorgeous redheaded woman with freckles and the little restaurant with the best apple crisp - don't tell his mother he said that - and work is the last thing he wants to think about.

Groaning as yet another email comes in; Harry rolls over and grabs his phone to see that it's four in the afternoon. And then it his him, it wasn't a dream. The fiasco of a meeting, firing Jackson, spending hours with the lawyers and the rest of c-staff, realizing that he might have to step down from the company he'd thrown his life into to bring it to what it was, the restaurant, Ginny, their date in three hours. His head is spinning and he's still lying down. _That's not a good sign,_ he thinks.

Harry takes a few deep breaths to try and calm down. Had he really been so forward? Man, thinking you're going to lose your job is known to make a man do stupid things, but Harry hadn't heard of the scenario causing men to act the Casanova. He would have never even thought of sitting next to a woman as beautiful as Ginny, it only happened because he was on self-pity autopilot; the fates apparently had a sense of humor.

But a part of him was on cloud nine. She agreed to a second date or first date rather. And Harry really hopes she liked him as much as he liked her because he really truly likes her. And she must at least kind of like him because she agreed to see him again after he'd told her he may lose his job.

The thought of work brings him back to the present and he moves himself to a sitting position to start going through the mass of emails that have come today. Over an hour later he's made it through them all and he's comforted in knowing that his position with the company is safe for now, there's a reason he pays his legal team as much as he does.

He busies himself for the next hour putting his flat more or less back in order because he's got to kill time before seven. Ginny may have been willing to see him again but he doesn't want to push his luck by showing up over an hour early. It’s finally late enough and he jumps in the shower, shaves, and dresses before jumping back into his car. When he leaves his apartment complex, he's nervous. When he drives up to Ginny's building, he's well and truly terrified. He pulls up in front of the entry and is about to chicken out of calling her when she walks through the doors to the building and up to his car.

Harry's trying to undo his seat belt and failing miserably, then the damn door gives him trouble but he somehow manages to meet her by the passenger side door.

"It's good to see you again." Ginny smiles at him and he's pretty sure that his heart skips a beat. "Did you sleep well?"

Harry's starring at how a line of freckles seems to flow from her cheek down her neck when it finally dawns on him that Ginny asked him a question, and he stammers to answer. "Oh, yeah, er, woke up to all the emails of the day. The legal team thinks I'll be able to keep my position in the company, still, a lot to figure out, but at least things look like they'll turn out alright."

"That's great!" She exclaims and throws her arms around his neck. He's frozen for a fraction of a second before he wraps his arms around her waist and realizes that there's a flowery scent about her and he thinks he could breathe that in forever and never tire of it.

They stay there for all but a moment before they both realize that this is their first contact aside from holding hands this morning and Harry suddenly feels like the awkward school geek again as he steps back and opens the door for her. But she gives him a small smile before climbing in and he goes back to the driver's door; _maybe at least I don't look like the school geek anymore_ Harry hopes. 

"So, where are we going?" Ginny asks as he pulls out of the complex.

"Are you a fan of seafood?" He asks cautiously, still feeling a bit like his former adolescent self.

"Did you learn nothing last night?" She laughs and Harry feels himself easing back into the rhythm they had yesterday. _Maybe it's her_ he thinks; _maybe it wasn't my response to almost losing my company._ "Seafood is a definite like." Her answer bringing him back from his silent musings.

He smiles over at her, "Then you'll be happy to know we're going to a little place by the docks. Some of the best seafood I've ever had."

"Big talk from a man who thinks apple crisp is better than chocolate lava cake." She teases.

"Hey! You agreed that as far as apple crisp goes, that one is the best."

"That does not mean it's better than the cake though."

"I'm pretty sure the whole of your life is based on whether it's better or worse than that cake." Harry laughs. "If memory serves me there was a point last night where I felt like I was interrupting something that ought to be kept private."

Ginny's neck starts to flush and he wonders if he's gone too far, but then she bursts out laughing. "I've never heard a more accurate description of my life. Yes, Harry, everything gets measured against that cake."

He's relieved that she's not mad and he’s trying to pay attention to the road and so he's right distracted, which may be why his internal question becomes audible. "And how do I measure up?" And now it's Harry’s turn to blush as he realizes the silent wonder has become a verbal quarry.

Ginny smiles at him and answers without missing a beat, "You're currently on par. We'll see how you fare." And Harry thinks he saw her wink at him, but he was avoiding another car so he's not sure. But he didn't miss the smile on her face, and he's pretty sure he could live on those smiles.

The restaurant is a small place, tucked away in one of the docks. Dinner is more fun than Harry's had in months and Ginny even agrees that the restaurant is the best seafood in town. They're walking along the dock; listening to the ocean as it pounds against the old timbers and watching the sun sink below the horizon.

Ginny's hand fits snuggly in his, and Harry is pretty sure she'd fit under his arm quite nicely too, but he's honestly too scared to try and move her there. They find a bench with an unobstructed view of the sea and sunset and take a seat. And while the general banter has been flirty and a lot of fun, Harry is realizing that he's falling fast for Ginny, which is mildly terrifying. He's never felt this way and while his mom is probably going to explode from excitement when she finds out, Harry's not sure if this is a mutual feeling, which is part of why it’s terrifying.

"Harry? Earth to Harry." Harry starts as Ginny let's go of his hand to wave her fingers in front of his face.

"Er. Sorry." He smiles a bit embarrassed.

"I thought you had fallen asleep with your eyes open." She laughs at him. "What happened? Just zoned out?"

"Er. Sort of," he runs his hand through his hair. "I was just sort of thinking."

"Must have been some heavy stuff, still worried about work?" She smiles encouragingly at him and Harry can't stop himself from leaning a bit closer to her.

His palms are sweaty and his heart is racing, and Harry curses the part of adolescents that never left him. But he's an adult now so he's not chickening out of this like he would have at sixteen. "I was thinking about how much I really like this, and you."

Ginny's eyes go wide and Harry starts to curse himself for ruining this, but then the smile breaks across her face and his cursing turns into praising whatever power decided to put Ginny in his path.

"I like you too, Harry." She breathes, and Harry is suddenly aware of how close they are, which means she must have leaned in as well because he doesn't think he leaned in that far. So maybe she's thinking what he's thinking and he's hoping that's the case because he's pretty sure if he doesn't kiss her now he's going to die right here.

Moving slowly, because he's going to give her every opportunity to back out of this, he leans in, slanting his lips over hers. She's soft and warm and Harry's sure no kiss has ever been this good. Harry’s lost track of the passage of time as his lips move over Ginny’s and they may have well been kissing in this spot for days and he wouldn’t know it. As they pull away, Harry's mind has finally stopped racing because for once in his life everything seems right, and if he could freeze time right here he would.

Ginny smiles up at him with fire in her eyes and Harry thinks that look she's giving him is probably the most beautiful thing in the universe.

"Remind me to send a text to my blind date thanking him for being such an ass." She laughs.

"What for?" Harry chuckles, confused.

"Well, I would have never gone to get the cake if he hadn't been so horrible. And so I would have never met you." She smirks at him and Harry wonders if it's too soon to kiss her again.

He laughs though, "Well then I would have to thank Jackson for embezzling because if he hadn't I wouldn't have wanted to drown my sorrows in apple crisp."

Ginny laughs and Harry brings his arm around her shoulders, noting that she does fit perfectly. She lays her head on his shoulder, sighing contentedly, and Harry can't get over how right it all feels.

He’s feeling on top of the world, brash even, and at the risk of ruining it all he asks her, "So how do I measure up to the cake now?"

Ginny laughs and sits up, turning to face him. It looks for a moment like she has some snarky comment ready, but then she leans in, and Harry meets her halfway because only an idiot doesn't want to kiss this woman. She well and truly snogs him, her fingers spearing through his hair, and Harry has forgotten entirely about the question that started this until she pulls away and breathlessly answers "Better."

It takes him a minute to catch up with her but when his mind does recall the question he laughs and pulls her in again, because if he's better than the molten chocolate lava cake then he better keep it up.


	3. Chapter 3

Ginny's lying on her couch watching Netflix, but she's not really watching, she agonizing. She and Harry have been dating for a little over a month now, and it has been what Ginny often refers to as "perfect." But yesterday was the first time their relationship seemed, less perfect. Ginny pulls out her phone and reads the final few texts of their conversation from the night before - for what is probably the millionth time.

**That's hilarious! Hey, do you want to grab some lunch tomorrow? I've been wanting to try that new food truck.**

**I'm going to have to take a rain check this weekend, but I'll call you Monday, Gin.**

**Oh, alright. I'll talk to you then.**

Why call her Monday? What is Harry doing that he can't even talk to her this weekend? Is he trying to slowly break-up with her, distancing himself so the blow isn't so hard? Is he seeing someone else, cheating on her right under her nose? Or maybe he's just not as invested as she is in this relationship; maybe he's not that into her and is seeing if he can find something better? Ginny runs her hands through her hair trying to force her brain to stop. Deciding that she can't take her mind running wild any longer, Ginny grabs her phone and video calls her best friend. Two rings and she's greeted by Luna's paint-splattered smiling face.

"I thought it would be you. My ears were burning so I knew someone was thinking about me."

"Hi to you too friend," Ginny smiles, "I was hoping you'd help talk me down."

Luna laughs, the phone moving just enough for Ginny to glimpse the painting she's working on. "I think I can do that. What metaphorical cliff are you perched upon?"

"Harry didn't want to see me or talk to me this weekend." Ginny moans as she slumps into the couch. "When I asked yesterday if he wanted to grab lunch or something, he said he couldn't do anything this weekend and would call me Monday."

Luna had set the phone on some sort of stand and was looking at her painting as Ginny spoke. "Well, what are you worried about?" Luna asks as she dips her fingers into the paint and applies it in globs to the canvas.

Ginny sighs impatiently. "Luna, I'm worried he isn't interested in me anymore. That he's trying to find some way to let me down easy. Or maybe that he's cheating on me. Basically that this whole relationship is going to end horribly."

Luna nods, "Well then, put yourself out of your misery and just ask him. Hang up with me and call him, then tell him what you told me. Gin you're almost 30. Now is not the time to regress into being 13 again." She picks up the paintbrush and rolls the handle over a section of painted canvas, eyeing it critically before repeating the motion. Then she turns back to the phone, "Trust me. I like late 20s you far more than 13-year-old you. You were clumsy and awkward, and you were a right nervous wreck around boys at 13. Be almost 30 Gin, call the man and sort this out."

Ginny smiles and chuckles softly. "You're the best, best friend a girl could ask for Luna. I'll do that, but can I see the painting first?"

Luna smiles wide as she proudly turns the phone to her latest piece. It's whimsical and mostly green with spatterings of orange and yellow. "I think I'm going to call it Leprechaun." Ginny hears Luna say.

"You could also name it for any of my brothers, but I don't want it going to their heads." Ginny and Luna laugh as Luna picks her phone back up.

"Now call the man and let me know how it goes. It couldn't hurt to toss some salt over your shoulder either." Luna waves at her as Ginny nods and they hang up.

While Ginny definitely agrees with Luna's advice, the talking to Harry part at least, she's nervous; it's not like she wants Harry to break-up with her. So she pours a small glass of rosé to calm her nerves. _Come on Gin, just call the man._ She chides herself. Stalling a bit longer to turn off the TV and rinse her empty glass, and she may or not have picked up the salt shaker, Ginny finally summons the courage to video call Harry.

The call rings, and rings, and Ginny is just about to give up hope for an answer when the call connects and she's greeted by the face of a smiling baby with bright eyes and a toothy grin.

To say she's shocked would be an understatement. Ginny's flabbergasted, confused, and very unsure, but the little boy smiles at her and starts squealing happily, pulling her out of the momentary brain lapse.

"Hey, there little guy." Ginny laughs apprehensively as the baby brings the phone to his face, his gurgles becoming much louder.

"Teddy, where did you put my phone?" Ginny hears Harry's voice muffled a bit in the background. On that note, the baby, Teddy she presumes, sticks the phone in his mouth and Ginny's screen shows a part of Teddy's chin and the floor moving beneath him.

"Come back here, you little thief!" Harry laughs and Teddy squeals as Harry picks him up and grabs the phone. He turns the screen towards him and freezes as he sees Ginny's face.

"Hi there," Ginny forces a smile. She feels like she may have unlocked some secret that he hadn't bothered telling her and this whole thing is going to blow up in her face over video chat.

"Er. Hi. Did, did you call? Or, did Ted call you?" Harry asks as he juggles both phone and squirming baby.

"I called." Ginny nods, wishing she kept something stronger on hand than rosé. "But if this is a bad time..."

"No!" Harry cuts her off. "Just let me get something on the telly and some toys out of his bag and Teddy will be alright for a few minutes."

Ginny nods not trusting herself to speak yet. Harry sets the phone on a table and while all she sees is the ceiling of his apartment, her mind is racing and the thought she's trying her hardest to push away is that Harry is two-timing his wife with her. Ginny's stomach is cramping and she's seriously considering hanging up the phone when Harry's face appears.

"Hey." He smiles at her and Ginny can't even force one in return. Harry's smile starts to fade and his hand shoots through his hair. "So, that was Ted."

"Is he yours?" Ginny blurts out, her face reddening and a lump rising to her throat as she braces herself for the worst possible scenario.

Harry blinks and his eyes go wide. "What? No! I mean. No in a good way, cuz Ted is awesome and I love him to death, but he's not mine, but I'd take him in a heartbeat." Harry stops suddenly and takes a deep breath. "I'm Teddy's godfather. His parents are great friends of mine, and I watch him every now and again. You might say I'm their go-to overnight sitter."

Ginny blinks as Harry's words process and all her worries and concerns have the floor pulled out from under them.

"Gin?" Harry's face is nervous and Ginny suddenly realizes she hasn't said anything since she blurted out the desperate question about Teddy.

"So that's why you didn't want to do anything this weekend?" She asks slowly, not trusting her emotions fully, given how tightly they'd been wound just moments ago.

Harry chuckles and there's relief in his voice. "I always want to do things with you Gin. I just, I just didn't know if we were ready to bring crazy families into the mix yet."

Ginny breathes a bit easier as she relaxes on the couch. "Yeah, I don't know if I'm ready to subject you to the Weasley chaos at the moment."

"And if Remus and Dora meet you before my parents, my mom will kill me." Harry laughs and the sound makes Ginny wish she was there with him.

"How long do you have Teddy for?"

Harry grimaces slightly, "Till Sunday evening. His parents are on a mini-holiday."

Ginny can feel the butterflies in her stomach, but she wants to play with that adorable little boy and she's mildly dying to kiss Harry again, so she summons her courage. "That would mean as long as I'm nowhere near your apartment Sunday evening, Teddy's parents would never run into me..."

Harry's smile is just a touch devious and Ginny is pretty sure she will die if she doesn't kiss him soon. "What an amazing observation!" His smile now a full-on smirk, "I guess that means you could come over whenever you'd like, so long as you're nowhere near my apartment Sunday evening."

Ginny smirks at him as she repositions the phone, "There's just one more catch, Potter."

He raises his eyebrows at her as he starts to make up a bottle for Teddy. "Which is?"

"You need to give me your address."

Harry laughs and Ginny's phone vibrates as Harry's address pops up in her received messages.

"I'm waiting, Weasley." And he winks at her.


	4. Chapter 4

They'd spent the evening eating dinner at a little place near Harry's apartment and walking around the neighborhood. But they'd come in a short time ago and were currently snuggled on the couch, shoes kicked off, with Pandora playing in the background while they talked and joked.

Ginny had met Teddy the weekend prior and while Harry had been a nervous wreck when she'd first arrived, he'd loved every second of her being there to take care of Teddy with him. Teddy was enamored with Ginny and while he loves that his godson likes her, Harry is pretty sure that his mother will figure out in about two seconds that Teddy was the first one to meet Ginny if she ever sees the two of them together.

What really made the weekend great was that Ginny had ended up spending the night Saturday, and Harry loved waking up to her tucked neatly under his arm Sunday morning. While Teddy being in the pack and play right next to his bed kept Harry from doing anything more than cuddle with Ginny, it definitely made several other possible activities seem much more reachable than they had originally appeared, and significantly less awkward to get there than Harry usually feels in these sort of situations. _One day I'll stop feeling like I'm 15._ He'd lamented after Ginny had left just before Remus and Dora showed up to collect Teddy.

"Hey!" Ginny shoves him, pulling him back from his thoughts. "What is it with you and zoning out every now and again?"

Harry can feel the blush on his neck. "It's not my fault that you render me speechless." He laughs, hoping to turn the conversation away from the topic of his thoughts by flattering her.

"Is it my stunning beauty? Or my amazing wit?" Ginny gives a dramatic and over exaggerated flip of her hair, placing a hand lightly on her chest.

"I'd have to say it's the combination, I don't stand a chance when you're both gorgeous and brilliant." He winks at her and Ginny laughs at him.

"Poor thing, caught up in my web with no chance at escape. Whatever will you do?" Ginny pats his cheek in mock sympathy.

"I'll think of something." He leans in close to her, lifting his hand to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear.

Ginny's breathing seems to have quickened just a touch, and she leans in close. Quickly closing the distance between them Harry captures her lips in his and relishes the feeling as her fingers run through his hair. He runs his hand through her hair and tugs gently to give him access to her neck, smiling against her skin at Ginny's moan of approval when he finds that spot she likes the best. Ginny's hands tighten just slightly in his hair, and her body arches into him. Harry's hard pressed to focus at that point and only one thing crosses his mind. He pulls away from Ginny's neck and murmurs in her ear.

"Stay tonight?"

Ginny pulls away to look at his face. Harry's not sure about what she's looking for, but he knows he doesn't want to have to take her back to her apartment tonight.

"Are you sure?" Ginny's voice quavers just slightly, and Harry thinks she might be just a touch nervous too; which for whatever reason is comforting and bolstering at the same time.

"Yes." He whispers, before kissing her lightly on the lips and pulling back to search her face for the answer he's hoping to hear.

Ginny gives him a shy smile, the kind of smile that makes Harry want to kiss her all the more, and nods. "I'll stay."

Harry's smile crashes into Ginny's and she laughs against his lips. He chuckles and starts kissing his way down from her lips to her neck and Ginny melts into him as he does. Tentatively, Harry runs a hand along her shirt hem. "Yeah?" He asks quietly, his breath hot against her neck.

"Yeah." She whispers as she runs her hands under his shirt and up his stomach.

Following her lead, Harry runs his fingers along her stomach as he kisses his way back up to her face. Ginny captures his lips hungrily, her tongue twirling around his.

"Do you want to go back to your bedroom?" Ginny asks nervously in between kisses.

Harry's heart pounds harder if that's even possible, and he pulls back to look at her. "Are you ok with that?"

Ginny grabs his hand and kisses him lightly on the lips, mimicking his kiss from earlier, before whispering, "Yes."

Harry smiles as he stands, gently pulling Ginny up with him. "After you."

* * *

Lying on his bed, Harry is absently running his hand through Ginny's hair as her naked body is pressed up against his, her head resting on his chest. He hears Ginny murmur something muffled against his body.

"What'd you say?"

She lifts her head up and smirks at him. "Mind-blowingly better!" And she moves up to kiss him.

And as Harry kisses her back he thinks he's not ever going to stop as long as he's better than that damned cake.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'd like to point out that going to your work Christmas party before meeting your family seems weird." Ginny laughs.

"Well, I haven't met your family either." Harry chuckles as he runs his free hand along her thigh, his other resting lazily on the steering wheel. "And the people I work with aren't the same kind of wild cards that my family can be. Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but as I've grown older, I've realized that they can come off a bit strong."

"I understand that. I have twin brothers who own and run a magic and joke shop, and no interaction with them is ever complete without some sort of trick." Ginny smirks as Harry's hand trails higher.

"See, work colleagues are definitely the easier option. And with how crazy things get this time of year anyway, why try to fit in more craziness if we don't have to?" Harry moves the hand on her thigh back to the steering wheel to park.

Ginny frowns at the loss of contact and reaches her hand out to rest it on Harry's thigh. "Well, dinner out with you is always a treat."

"Such a rare occurrence indeed," Harry smirks at her as he turns off his car and Ginny can't help it as she more or less throws herself across the center console to capture his lips in hers. She's prepared to snog him senseless, but he pulls away after a brief moment.

"Gin, I'm the CEO, I can't miss this, or be late. That's part of why I brought you." She gives him a bit of a pout hoping he'll reconsider, but instead he laughs. "I promise to pick this back up at whosever flat you choose." He kisses her softly and Ginny's pretty sure this will be the longest night of her life as he pulls back again, and she's positive of it when Harry winks at her, trailing his fingers down her neck.

But then Harry's helping her out of the car, and Ginny puts on her most confident smile. She's dating the CEO and founder of this software gig, and she's going to make sure she acts the part. Harry's hand on the small of her back is a bit distracting though, especially when his fingers are drawing patterns.

She's introduced to the gambit as all of c-staff and upper management want to meet her. Ginny finds the majority of them a pleasant and forgettable bunch except Neville, the COO, or "my right-hand man," as Harry introduced him. They met at university and became friends by their last year. Neville and his wife Hannah are probably the nicest and sweetest people Ginny's ever met.

"Keep doing what you're doing, Harry," Neville says as they're finishing their salads. "If you let her get away, I might decide to punish you by quitting."

"Well, I had plenty of motivation beforehand, but thanks for the extra push, Neville." Harry chuckles as Hannah rolls her eyes. Ginny knows that it's all good-natured teasing, but she still feels a bit out of place. Nothing in her life has been what some would call high class, and this entire evening with Harry has included things she never thought she would be a part of. This is a level of money she's unfamiliar with, and she's a touch worried it's going to show.

"Hey," Harry leans close and kisses her temple, sending shivers down her spine. "Is everything alright?"

Ginny leans into him a bit more relishing the contact, "I'm just trying to not be an embarrassment. I don't want to come off as uncultured or some sort of bumpkin.

Harry's breath is hot on her neck and Ginny almost misses his response as she's suddenly thinking of a few other things. "Be yourself, Gin. But for the record, you aren't uncultured or a bumpkin. You're brilliant and by far the most gorgeous woman here. Just relax and let's have some fun, yeah?"

Ginny smiles and nods as the main course is set down for everyone. And she smiles happily when Harry's foot seeks out hers, his shin rubbing against her calf. Halfway through dinner Harry's hand finds her back again, and since their seats are against the wall he's shamelessly running his fingers under the already low cut back of her dress. Ginny has to focus a fair amount of energy at both not moaning and not snogging Harry right there. _Breath, Gin._ She thinks as Harry’s hand massages her lower back.

Thankfully, as she's quickly losing her resolve to keep her hands above the table, Harry and Neville have to go to the front of the private dining room to give the company's Christmas greeting to the employees and their guests. As they're walking up Hannah leans across the table.

"You're almost there. Another half hour and you're free." Then she winks at her. Ginny can feel the blush rising and she's not sure if Hannah means making it through the party in general or if she's noticed that Ginny is about ready to jump Harry's bones at the moment.

Deciding she doesn't want to clarify what Hannah's referring to, Ginny smiles back and laughs. "This has been fun. Our magazine has so many employees that they just give us all a small bonus and send an email Christmas card."

"It's nice that they've kept things small enough here that they can still do fun things like this. A couple of years ago they rented out a screen at a cinema so we could all go watch a film." Then Hannah smirks, "Too bad that isn't the case this year. It would make things a bit easier on the two of you."

Ginny nearly chokes on her wine and she knows the blush is covering her entire face and neck. Hannah smiles at her and laughs, laying a reassuring hand on her wrist. "It's alright dear. Honestly, it's been wonderful to watch the two of you. It reminds me of when I first met Neville, after five years of marriage things become a bit less heated all the time. I think you've inspired me to bring a bit of that fire back tonight though." She gives a sideways glance at Neville as he's giving a review of the past year.

Ginny can't help it and laughs out loud. "I'm glad we could help."

It only takes about 20 minutes for Harry and Neville to cover everything and bring an end to the party. And when Harry returns to Ginny's side, she notices a bit of spark in his eyes that wasn't there before.

"I think we're all set. Have I forgotten to acknowledge anyone's existence, Neville?" Harry asks as pulls out Ginny's chair to help her stand.

Neville laughs and shakes his head. "If you have I'll make up some sort of excuse for you." Then he smirks, "An excuse other than your girlfriend."

Ginny sort of likes that Neville and Hannah are able to laugh with them about this, and from the look on Neville's face when he glances at Hannah, he's on the same page as her about their activities for the rest of the evening.

Laughing, they say their goodbyes and head for the exit when a woman stops them.

"Harry, I sent you those legal papers this morning. Have you read them yet?" Harry chuckles and smiles fondly at the woman, and Ginny subconsciously grabs his arm tighter.

"Yes, and I'll respond when I'm back in the office Monday. But it's a Friday evening and the Christmas party so I'm not going to do it till then. Hermione let me introduce you to my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. Ginny, this is Hermione Granger, head of the legal department and the closest thing I have to a sister."

Hermione smiles warmly at Ginny and Ginny suddenly feels foolish for feeling jealous. "It's so nice to meet you, Ginny! Can I ask if you're related to Ronald?"

Ginny quirks a brow and nods, "Yes, he's my brother. How do you know him?"

Hermione's cheeks tinge just a bit. "Oh, he was someone I knew at university is all. It was lovely to meet you, Ginny! Have a great night you two!" And she's gone as quickly as she came.

Ginny turns to Harry as he opens the door for them. "I take it her interaction with my brother was less than ideal?"

Harry sighs, "If your brother is who I think he is, Hermione had a bit of a crush on him, but was too scared to do anything about it. She also overheard him talking to some friends about how anyone who actually studied was mental, or something like that. She understandably didn't do anything about the crush, but I've not heard her mention him for years. I thought she'd moved on. My place?"

Ginny nods as they climb into his car. "If she happens to ask you at any point, my brother is single at the moment."

Harry chuckles as his hand finds her thigh again, this time going far too high for polite company. "I'll keep that in mind," then he smirks at her, "and if you're wondering, that dress is driving me mad!"

"No!" Ginny's trying her best to look shocked but by Harry's laugh, she's obviously not doing a very good job of it. "It's not like you were trying to yank it off from the back earlier."

Harry's chuckle is low and she can practically feel it rumble in his chest, making Ginny wish they were to his place already. "I'm glad you appreciated my efforts." He squeezes her thigh and Ginny bites back a moan.

"Oh, you'll know how much I appreciated it once we're back inside your apartment." and she winks at him.

Harry slides his hand along her thigh, "I have a surprise for you there by the way."

"Yeah?"

Harry nods. "Did you know you can get those lava cakes take-away if you ask?"

Ginny's smile is wicked. "I didn't know that."

Harry's grin is almost boyish, "There're two in my fridge at the moment, with instructions on how to heat them up."

Harry pulls into his parking spot and Ginny's fighting the urge to grab his hand and drag him running to the elevator and up to his flat. Instead, she lets Harry wrap his arm around her waist and lead her to the elevator. When the doors close, Harry's breath is warm on her neck and he's running his hands up and down her waist, kissing her neck, her cheek, everywhere but her lips and softly laughing at her attempts to catch his lips in hers. Ginny's sure she's going to go mad when the elevator doors open and Harry pulls away entirely.

When the flat door closes Ginny doesn't give Harry the chance to play more games, throwing her arms around his neck and catching his lips in hers, her tongue twirling around his.

"Gin, patience can be rewarded." He says as his hand slides into her hair.

"You've never been one to want to wait before." Ginny laughs against his lips as she pushes his sports coat off his shoulders.

"I've never been in a situation to want to." He's playing with the zipper at the back of her dress and Ginny's just about ready to beg him to get on with it when he pulls away. "Trust me. We'll heat up those cakes and I promise, you'll be happy you waited."

Ginny groans and rests her head against Harry's chest. "Get the damn cakes out, Potter."

* * *

Ginny sighs contentedly as Harry kisses some of the excess chocolate off her face and chuckles, his naked chest rumbling against hers, "Was it worth it, Weasley?"

Ginny arches into him and kisses him, tasting the chocolate on his lips. "I'll never be able to top this!"

"I'll think of something," Harry laughs as he starts kissing her again. And Ginny realizes that he probably will, and she has every intention of keeping him around so he can.


	6. Chapter 6

"Gin," Harry says against her lips, "Gin, we need to get going." But he's kissing her as much as she's kissing him. And what was just supposed to be a nap before they left for dinner at his parents' didn't end up involving sleep at all, and they're still going.

"So you want me to put my clothes back on?" She breathes into his ear and Harry gives up being on time right there.

"You're coming up with the excuse as to why we're late." He chuckles against her neck as he pulls her closer.

* * *

"How about we tell them we decided to try and jump the pond in your car?" Ginny laughs, sending shivers up Harry's spine as he remembers that laugh from their earlier activities. "Or maybe that we ran into a group of people claiming that you were the only hope to save their world so we went to help them out and it took a bit longer than we planned?"

"Don't give my dad any ideas." Harry groans with a fond smile as he drives them to his parents' place. "We'll just tell them I had some work come up. That's a pretty standard occurrence for me so they're not going to think on it."

"Really? You've never had work come up when you've been with me?" Ginny smiles slyly at him.

Harry can feel the blush rising on his neck and he tries to push it back down. "Work has come up, but I've ignored it around you." He glances at her and Ginny's smile seems almost victorious and Harry has to bite back the laugh that rises in him.

"Alright, you had work come up. Now, I'd like to know why you think you need to ignore work around me." Ginny's voice is practically dripping with triumph and Harry has to focus pretty hard on not laughing at her. Normally when Ginny thinks she's had some sort of win, Harry likes to goad her just a bit, but he's been meaning to tell her for a while now and this is as good a time as any.

"Because I'm in love you, Gin. And so it's more that when I'm with you I don't want to worry about work, as opposed to thinking that I need to ignore it."

Ginny looks taken aback for all of a few seconds before she regains her composure. "You're lucky I'm in love with you too, you great git! I can't believe you just told me that while you're driving and I can't even kiss you!"

Harry's chest seems to explode at her words; in one swift movement he flicks on the hazards and pulls over as he undoes his seatbelt, throwing the car in park at the same time that he leans over and brings Ginny's face to his.

They pull away and Harry rests his forehead against hers. "I love you." He says it again, just for the feel of it, and to watch as Ginny's eyes go soft and she leans into him again.

"I love you too." She says against his lips. Then she smirks. "And you are so not sleeping tonight."

When they're finally back on the road they're both a bit ruffled, and despite all the delays Harry manages to get them to his parents’ home and they're only 15 minutes late.

He's wrapped his arm around Ginny's waist as they walk up to the front door, the flowers Ginny bought as a hostess gift are mixing with that flowery scent she always carries with her, making Harry focus very hard on not showing too much affection in front of his parents - though he doubts that's possible with how they get.

Before he can change his mind Harry turns his key in the door and opens it to the smells of his parents' home, and something... burning?

"Mum? Dad? Is everything ok?" Harry calls out as he cautiously leads Ginny into the house and towards the kitchen.

There's a fair amount of swearing coming from the kitchen and Harry's pretty sure that this is an omen for the rest of the evening. They walk into the kitchen and find his mum opening windows trying to push the smoke out with a plastic container lid, and his dad bent in front of the oven, old flowered oven mitts shoved over his hands, tossing the blackened rolls into the bin.

Taking in the scene, Harry groans, realizing his dad's glasses are skewed in a certain way, and his mum's blouse is slightly untucked from her trousers, and he's pretty sure there's lipstick on his dad's neck but Harry refuses to look close enough to tell. He'd like to think that Gin hasn't noticed this, but one look at the beautiful creature beside him is all he needs to know that not only has she noticed, she's trying very, very hard not to laugh.

"Harry!" His mum smiles at him. "I was just about to text and make sure you were still coming!"

"15 minutes late and she thinks you've forgotten where we live." His dad laughs as he volleys the last roll into the bin, doing a celebration dance when it bounces in after hitting the wall behind it.

"Sorry, I had work come up." Harry lies, convincingly he would like to think. "Mum, Dad, this is Ginny Weasley. Ginny, these are my parents, Lily and James Potter." Maybe if he pretends that his parents weren't just doing unspeakable things the rest of the evening won't be a nightmare, though he has a wager with Gin on how bad this could turn out.

Ginny's smile is brilliant as she walks up to Lily, flowers in her arms. "It's so nice to meet you!" She says as she hands the flowers over in a half hug. Lily winks at Harry as she returns the hug and Harry suddenly has a small sliver of hope that the evening won't be a total disaster.

"It's lovely to meet you as well!" Lily beams as she pulls down a vase and fills it in the sink. "Harry's been just a bit vague about the two of you."

"If by vague you mean not talking about it then yes," James says as he walks over to shake Ginny's hand. Ginny takes his hand and James leans in, whispering loudly as he looks furtively in Harry's direction. "If he's paying you to pretend to be his girlfriend, blink once. If he's blackmailing you blink twice."

Ginny laughs and in the same fashion quarries, "But James, what do I do if I'm actually your son's girlfriend?"

"Find a good shrink!" James pulls away laughing and Harry chuckles. That's been his dad's response to any girl he's brought home since he was 15, and even 15 years later, it's still apparently hilarious.

Ginny's laughing as she returns to his side, "Can we help with anything?" Harry asks.

"Well, since we don't have rolls, dinner is ready." Lily laughs and fails to hide the sidelong glance she gives James that leaves Harry wishing they would be normal just for tonight. But the moment passes and Lily leads everyone to the dining room for one of his dad's "famous stews" and salad.

"So Ginny, what do you do for work?" Lily asks as they dig in.

"I'm a layout editor for a sports magazine. I determine the way articles sit and the fonts and pictures that get used."

"Ah, so you're the ones who have my editor tell me my articles are too long or too short." James laughs.

Ginny smiles, "Actually, no, your editor does that all on their own. I have to make whatever they give me fit. Are you a journalist then?"

"A cartoonist who poses as a journalist in order to make money," James confesses dramatically bringing the back of his hand to rest against his forehead.

"Don't let him fool you," Harry chuckles at his dad's theatrics, "He's an artist who relies on his wife to pay the bills."

"Harry!" Lily starts to scold him but James is laughing too loudly.

"Sirius will be so proud of you, son! That was a marvelous dig!"

"James!" Lily turns on her husband, but he waves her off.

"Come now, Lily! I've waited forever to be able to be friends with my son. He's almost 30, he owns his own successful company, and he's brought home a serious girlfriend. I think the days of having to be strictly his father are gone."

Harry's trying to look at all three people at the table simultaneously. He's trying to watch his mum for signs of an atomic bomb; he's waiting to see if his dad is serious or if this is some sort of prank being pulled on the three of them; and he's trying to read if Ginny is completely weirded out by the craziness that's consumed the total 10 minutes they've been there. The only one he's successful in reading is Ginny who looks like she's watching those horribly staged reality telly programs. There's a tick in her mouth and Harry knows she wants to laugh, but that tick in her mouth is also very distracting. It makes the far side of her mouth curve almost into a smirk but not quite. Harry's just about forgotten why he’s watching her in the first place as his mind wanders when he hears his mother sigh and he's brought back to reality.

"I'm sorry everyone. I suppose when it's your only child you tend to over mother." She smiles a bit sadly.

Ginny reaches over and puts a comforting hand on Lily's wrist. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm the youngest of seven kids and my mum still mothers us all. My oldest brother is nearly 40, married, and has a daughter, and our mum still has moments where she talks to him like he's eleven years old."

Lily starts laughing and takes Ginny's hand in hers. "You're marvelous you know?"

Harry breathes a sigh of relief as that potential fiasco passes.

"So how do you support your starving artist husband, Lily?" Ginny asks smiling slyly at James, who rolls his eyes in response.

"I'm a concert pianist and I teach lessons," Lily smiles. Then she points her spoon accusingly at Harry, "But this young man never cared for the art."

Harry laughs, "My hands never did what I wanted them to, and I lack the attention span to practice that much."

"Says the man who threw the last 10 years into starting his dream company," James smirks.

Harry frowns at him, "I thought we were friends now."

"Of course we are!" James chuckles, "And that means the whole playing field is open!"

Harry laughs in spite of himself and then everyone is laughing and the mild amount of tension that Harry was feeling eases away.

Dinner continues as Ginny starts to talk a bit about her family and her career, and his parents tell all the standard embarrassing stories from his childhood and adolescents. Harry was genuinely worried about this meeting; Ginny is the first woman he's invested in enough to want things to work out with. She's certainly the first woman he's ever ignored work for at least and that's saying something. So as far as Harry is concerned, meeting their respective families needs to not be disastrous, because some of his future goals will be easier attained if everyone involved is at least tolerant of their relationship.

Dinner finishes and while they put it all away and his mum sets out the dessert plates, the front door opens and Harry hears a familiar voice.

"Honey! I'm home!"

Harry laughs, "I win the first part." He winks at Ginny before turning to his parents. "When will Remus and Dora get here? We might as well do this all at once."

James and Lily managed to look sheepish. "I'll text Dora that they can come now then," Lily says as the blush tinges her cheeks.

Harry then turns to James. "Did you fly Peter in from Canada then?"

James chuckles, "He couldn't get work off, so no."

"Ha!" Ginny celebrates by throwing a fist into the air. "And I win the second!"

"Win what?" James eyes them as Sirius and Marlene walk in.

Harry smirks, "We wagered whether you'd bring in the crew to meet her as well. I won that you did. She won that you couldn't get Pete here on short notice."

Sirius laughs a loud bark. "Little Potter isn't such a small one anymore. He's got the two of you figured out, James." He walks up and wraps Harry in a hug. "I'll forgo my well-rehearsed speech of surprise, but know it was fabulous!" Then he glances over at Ginny and grins. "She's too pretty for you Harry."

"And I'm too pretty for you, you big dog." Marlene laughs in a silvery high soprano. She holds out her hand to Ginny who smiles wide as she takes it. "We know how to pick them, don't we? I'm Marlene."

"Oh, yes we do. I'm Ginny."

Sirius steps between them and frowns at Marlene. "I'm at least as pretty as you are Marls." Then he smiles at Ginny. "I'm Sirius Black, your beau's godfather, and your new favorite person!"

"So you'll be giving me your share of dessert then?" Ginny asks with wide eyes and an innocent voice.

Sirius frowns, "Of course not! I said I was your new favorite person, not the Pope!"

Ginny laughs and everyone finds a seat for dessert. "Well, Mr. Godfather, what questions do you have for me?"

Sirius barks out a laugh, "Since James and Lily have texted me the regular stuff while you four were cleaning up dinner, I guess I want to know what your intentions are for my godson."

Harry groans, "Sirius, I'm not a helpless child."

"It's my duty as your godfather to help protect you, Harry. I won't have this siren try and steal one of your kidneys if she's not willing to give you hers as well." Sirius turns back to Ginny expectantly; Ginny's face is bright and looking like she's trying not to burst out laughing.

"My intentions are to be on the kidney trading level with your godson, and if all works out a bit more committed than that as well."

Harry perks up at that comment and gives Ginny a small smile, hoping somehow to tell her he feels the same without going sappy in front of his family.

Sirius eyes her before sliding his phone in front of Ginny. "This is my dog, Padfoot. That's your doom if you're just using Harry."

Harry groans and buries his head in his hands. "Enough, Black!" His moan of embarrassment muffled.

Ginny's laughter bursts from her chest as she sees the image of a small black mutt playing with a ball of rope that's almost as big as he is. "I'll keep that in mind." She chokes out.

"Enough, Sirius," Marlene chuckles, "Poor Harry is going to die of embarrassment if you keep this up, and how is he supposed to get lucky if he's dead?"

"Aunt Marlene!" Harry groans louder, head dropping to the table in his arms, trying to find a way to melt into the table beneath him. Ginny is now laughing harder at this point. But she catches Harry's eye when he finally uncovers his incredibly red face and the glint in her eye and the wink she gives tells him she's not worried about tonight at all, and truth is, he isn't either.

The doorbell rings and Harry thanks whatever power that has literally just saved what little pride is left in him. Remus, Dora, and Teddy come into the room and Teddy zeros in on Ginny almost immediately. That's when Harry remembers the weekend that Gin helped him take care of Teddy and he realizes he's doomed. Teddy wriggles out of Dora's arms and crawls straight to Ginny, begging to be picked up.

Ginny smiles and picks him up, nuzzling her nose against Teddy's cheek. "Hey, there little guy."

Harry is momentarily distracted by the memories that flood him of that weekend, and the one that followed it, and of a few dreams he's had about potential situations he could find himself in with Ginny, but he's brought back to reality pretty quick when he hears his mother's voice.

"Teddy met her first!" She moans.

"Ten quid! You owe me ten quid!" Sirius is practically jumping in his chair as James forlornly hands over a tenner, looking at Harry as if he's been betrayed.

"How could you, mate? How could you not tell me before I made a bet with Sirius about it? You've ruined my winning streak!" James lays his head on the table, slumping his shoulders and sighing loudly. "It's all over now. No point in going on."

"You know Teddy, you should call your Uncle James, Hamlet," Ginny says as she tickles Teddy's tummy, who giggles happily.

"She passes." Remus chuckles, walking over to shake Ginny's hand. "I'm Remus, this is my wife Dora, and you've obviously already met Ted here. Welcome to the family, Ginny!"

* * *

Back at Ginny's apartment late into the night, Harry holds a sleeping Ginny close as his mind replays the visit to his parents' home for probably the millionth time. It certainly hadn't gone the way he expected it to go, but all in all, he's happy with how it all turned out.

"Not too shabby." Harry chuckles quietly.

Ginny stirs and looks up with sleepy eyes, "Huh?"

"I love you," and Harry kisses her softly.

"I love you too," Ginny murmurs before snuggling closer and drifting back to sleep.

And as Harry closes his eyes and holds her close, he thinks that he's never going to tire of telling her he loves her, or hearing her respond in kind.


	7. Chapter 7

Ginny's more or less decided that there is some fate out to get her as she pulls Harry behind a parked lorry while they're walking to a restaurant for lunch. The fact that her brother is walking down the same street is not just bizarre, it's aggravating.

"Er...Gin?" Harry's voice brings her back and she forces a smile.

"Sorry," she peeks around the lorry and to her relief, Ron is gone. "I thought I saw someone, but I guess not."

"The Reaper?" Harry teases her, his hand squeezing hers as they walk the last few yards to the restaurant.

"Close enough," Ginny laughs as they walk into her favorite sandwich joint. "Anyway, want to split a Ruben today?"

Harry laughs and just as he's about to answer, an unfortunately familiar voice sounds behind him.

"Ginny?!"

Ginny grimaces and tries to hide behind Harry but the daft, albeit gorgeous, man is already turning to see who said her name.

"Hi Ron," she sighs, "Fancy meeting you here."

"Who is this?" Ron cuts past the pleasantries, glaring at Harry. He's just a fraction taller than Harry and it almost seems like he's trying to hold himself higher to emphasize it.

"It's none of your business really, but since I'm pretty sure you'll not leave me alone until you know, this is my boyfriend Harry Potter. Harry this is my brother, Ron. He's the one who's your age."

Harry smiles and holds out his hand, which Ron eyes before cautiously accepting it.

"It's nice to meet you, Ron. I've heard a lot about you, and your brothers. Tell me, do you by chance remember a Hermione Granger from university?"

Ron scrunches his brow and nods, "Yeah, she went on to law school if I remember right."

Harry smiles warmly at Ron, "That she did. Hermione is one of my best friends, and she is also the head of my company's legal team."

Ron's face takes on a mildly cloudy expression, and Ginny has to stop herself from laughing at how well Harry has just played her brother.

"Well, it was lovely to see you, Ron. We're just going to order and have our lunch. See you at dinner tomorrow, Harry'll be there too." And Ginny deliberately pushes past Ron, pulling Harry with her, leaving him standing by the door looking just a tad flabbergasted.

Ron regains his composure rather quickly and after one last glance back at Ginny and Harry, he decides that he's not in the mood for a sandwich after all and heads out the door.

As the door closes behind him Ginny breathes with relief, then stands on tiptoe to kiss Harry's cheek. "Marvelously played! You more or less turned him into the scared boyfriend meeting the big brother."

Harry chuckles as his hand snakes around her waist. "Well, to a small extent. I had to listen to a fair bit of complaining about him for a while, and I kind of wanted to see if he was at least remorseful about the sort of face he put on in school. It definitely looks like he is, which honestly made me feel better about it all. I wasn't the greatest guy in my early twenties either."

"Whatever your motives, I'm happy it worked. The alternative would have been him having lunch with us, and that would have been horrible."

"Mostly because we wouldn't have been able to talk about tomorrow. Which, by the by, I do want some idea of what to expect."

"Of course, love. We'll have you as prepared as I can get you for the chaos that is the Weasley's."

Ginny looks forward to the monthly Weasley family dinners, they remind her of when she was small and all seven kids lived at home. But as she drives there tonight with Harry in the passenger seat, she's a bit anxious. Especially since everyone will be there. Charlie is even in town this week, a rare occurrence when it isn't the holidays.

"I'm more nervous to bring you home than I was to go to your home." Her laugh is half from nerves and half forced to try and keep marginally sane, she's driving after all.

Harry's hand squeezes her thigh reassuringly, "I can relate. This is definitely nerve-racking, but not nearly as bad as when you met my family."

"The snog beforehand helped ease the tension for sure." She winks at him and Harry laughs.

"There's a scenic pull out just ahead." He gestures to a sign as they pass it.

"Are you suggesting that we snog before we meet my family?" She does her best to sound affronted, but she can't pull the smile off her face.

"Gin, only a blind, deaf idiot doesn't find excuses to try and snog you." Harry's hand slides up and down her thigh, his voice low, and before Ginny realizes it, she flicks on her turn signal and pulls off at whatever scenic thing there is to look at. As she puts the car in park, Harry already has his seatbelt undone and his lips capture hers.

Ginny will never tire of the feeling of Harry kissing her. The sensation starts at her head, and the longer he kisses her, the further down her body it travels. It's a pleasant electric shock that has her begging for more, her body clinging to him wherever it can, desperate to keep him close. And don't get her started on his hands, those amazing, strong, magic hands. The perfect combination of calloused and smooth, with abilities that should require a permit for how quickly they can turn off her mind to anything but him. It's the way he runs his fingers along her neck, into her hair, and how his hands hold her close, firm, and safe.

His hands start to work their magic when part of her brain reminds her of dinner with her family, and she tries very hard to ignore it. Let them wait, she tells that annoying responsible voice in her head.

But that voice must have jumped over her shoulder and whispered in Harry's ear because he pulls away just barely and asks, "How late is acceptable?"

"How about we just don't go?" She breathes catching his lips again.

Harry kisses her deeper before pulling away again and bringing the hand in her hair to her cheek. "If we're serious about some of those future plans we talked about, I should really start on the best foot possible with your family, love."

Ginny's groan only makes Harry laugh and kiss her lightly on the cheek. "We'll have a nightcap at my place after, yeah?"

Oh, the things she does for love. "Alright, let's get this over with."

She pulls up to her childhood home right on time and braces herself when she sees all of her brothers' cars parked along the drive. So much for hoping they all forgot Harry was coming today.

She stops momentarily at the front door and steels herself. Harry is the first man she's brought home in almost a decade, and her brothers are the gambit of personalities from protective to jokester to teasing to mildly threatening, which means tonight is guaranteed to be a rollercoaster.

Harry kisses her temple. "We've got this, Gin."

She gives him a small smile and pushes the door open.

"Ginny, dear!" Her mum scurries over and wraps her one of her signature bone crushing hugs. The warmth of her mother's hug seems to reassure Ginny that it's going to be alright.

"And this must be Harry!" Molly smiles as she pulls away from Ginny and wraps Harry in a hug.

"Harry, this is my mum, Molly." Ginny chuckles as Harry returns the hug with a bit of surprise on his face.

"It's a pleasure, Molly." Harry smiles as she pulls away.

"It's all mine, dear! Come in! Come in!" She ushers them inside to the room full of redheads, mostly starring the couple down.

"This is Arthur, the head of our little family." Molly introduces Ginny's dad as Harry shakes his hand, and Ginny can see it on her dad's face that he's pleased. He should be, her dad is fascinated with technology and Ginny has done her very best to talk up Harry's software company with him over the last few weeks.

"And here's Bill. His wife Fleur and daughter Victoire are in the bedroom nursing." Harry gives Bill a nod as Molly turns him to the next brother. "Charlie is here visiting from Romania for a few days. Percy and his wife Audrey. Here are Fred and George, our twins. And Ron. Boys this is Harry."

Ginny takes in her brothers' faces before stepping in front of Harry and her mum. "I'd like to make one thing very clear tonight," She smiles sweetly at all of them, "I have a level of blackmail on each if you that goes beyond your worst nightmares, but I'm sure none of you have any intentions that I'd consider unreasonable, so tonight should be a lovely evening." The promise hangs heavy in the air before Molly clears her throat.

"I could use a hand setting the table; Ginny, Harry, why don't you two take care of that."

"Of course, Mum." Ginny takes Harry's hand and leads them to the dining room.

"Well, that was one way to handle the situation," Harry comments as she hands him the dinner plates.

"I know my brothers, love. Trust me, my promise of ruining their lives will keep them in check long enough for them to actually get to know you. Then it will keep them in check if they decide they don't care for you." Ginny's grin is wicked as Harry's face dawns with comprehension that she indeed has blackmail on all of them.

"You're far more dangerous than I ever expected, Miss Weasley." Harry leans to whisper in her ear, "And I've always rather enjoyed playing with fire."

Ginny shivers and has to stop herself from picking up where they left off at the scenic pull out. Molly and Arthur walk in with the dishes of food just then, saving her the trouble.

Everyone gathers around the table for dinner, and that's when the questions start. Harry is more or less pushed into telling the majority of his life story. Fred and George manage to switch Harry's fork out for one that gives an electric shock when you pick it up. When Harry succeeds in tricking Fred into taking it from him and getting shocked, he's more or less their favorite person for the night. Bill try as he might to not cross Ginny's line, still manages to get both a death glare from Ginny and a smack on the arm from his wife for suggesting that Harry's intentions were less than kind. Once Charlie clarifies to Harry that the brown bears on the reserve he works at would leave no trace if they happen to be fed Harry fillets - also earning a warning from Ginny and Molly - he seems to warm up to Harry pretty quickly after that. Percy, who works for HMRC, seems only interested in making sure that Harry's company is following all the tax regulations in place. But after he ensures that Harry has all the right answers, he comments that if Harry can keep his company in order, then he can certainly take care of Ginny just as well.

What worries Ginny is the lack of any comment from Ron. He spends all of dinner watching Harry but saying nothing. His face is that same cloudy expression from yesterday at the sandwich shop, and Ginny is mildly worried at his lack of any comment or reaction since yesterday.

Dinner finishes, and as everyone helps with clean up, Ron says something quietly to Harry, and they take a step outside. Now Ginny knows that Harry can handle himself just fine, he doesn't need a protector, but she's rather angry that Ron has decided to go behind her back to question Harry. The rest of her brothers had the decency to do it with her there at least. So Ginny sneaks to the back door and the window that her mum has kept cracked open on nice days since before she was born, to listen.

"She does remember you, yes," Harry says and Ginny can hear the smile in his voice.

"Really? We didn't talk much. I didn't think she would." Ron's voice is a mix of anxious and something akin to hope. "Do, do you think that she would have any interest in meeting up with some of the people from our classes? We had most of our earlier classes together, me being in communications and her in political science and history."

"I don't honestly know," Harry's voice is a touch skeptical, but there's a level of compassion in the undertones that Ginny didn't expect. "She isn't one for big parties, but she would probably be up for seeing one or two people."

Ron is quiet for a long moment, and Ginny wishes she could see his face without outing her eavesdropping. "Can you give her this? If she'd like to see some of the people we went to university with then she can text or email me."

"I'll give it to her tomorrow morning at work. We probably want to go back in though. If the rest of your family is anything like Gin, everyone knows we're out here and everyone is probably trying to find a way to hear what we're saying."

Ron chuckles, "You'll do just fine Harry."

Ginny bolts from her listening post and makes it back into the kitchen just in time to wink at her mum and start putting the last of the dishes in the dishwasher, looking for all the world as if she never left the task in the first place.

Harry and Ron aren't far behind her and while Ron does eye her suspiciously he says nothing and heads into the living room.

"Everything alright, love?" Ginny murmurs as Harry walks over to her, wrapping her in a hug.

"Hmm," Harry hums into her hair as he nods slightly.

"Hey, Harry," Ron's voice calls from the living room, "How about a game of chess?"

"You'll kick my trash, but I suppose you're alright with that," Harry calls back as he moves away from Ginny.

"Only fair," Ron sticks his head into the hallway, "You are dating my only sister."

Harry laughs but does follow Ron into the living room where the board is set up on the coffee table.

Ginny quickly finishes helping with clean up before sitting on the floor with her back against the couch between Harry's legs in the small and crowded living room.

"Want my seat?" Harry starts to stand, but she lightly pushes him back.

"I'm quite content to sit right here, thanks." She winks at him and Ron makes a retching sound.

"Bugger off." Ginny spats before getting comfortable again.

"Hey, I like this one," Ron retorts, "So don't ruin it by making me want to vomit whenever I see the two of you together."

Before Ginny can answer, George chimes in. "We like him too, but he's a bit gangly for you Gin. Now that guy you dated at university, the footballer, he was a bit more your size."

"I remember him," Fred nods, "But I didn't like how he always made a show of doing things for you. I almost think he expected you to give him a bloody medal every time he so much as handed you something."

"Anyway, moving on," Ginny cuts them off. She can feel the blush rising up her neck and she's grateful that Harry currently can't see her face.

"There was that boy you dated when you were a teenager." George smiles innocently.

"Is that the boy who wrote the horrible poems and mailed them to you on postcards?" Percy asks.

"All of you can shut it!" Ginny groans as she hides her face in her arms as they rest on her up bent knees.

"You know, when I was a teenager," Harry's hand squeezes her shoulder gently as he starts his story, "I had a huge crush on this girl. But by the time I had gained the courage to do anything about it, she had a terrible tragedy strike. So our first kiss happened while she was more or less crying her eyes out."

"How romantic," Charlie smirks.

"Percy asked me out the first time via office memo." Audrey chuckles.

Fleur laughs heartily, "Bill made up the excuse that his department boss at the bank needed some information from me about our department, and he took me out to lunch. We didn't talk about work once."

Bill and Percy laugh as the blush rises in their cheeks.

"We both got you two to marry us, so I'd say it all worked out in the end." Bill smiles as he holds a sleeping Victoire.

"I asked your mother to elope with me when we were 16." Arthur smiles fondly at Molly.

"And I told you that you were crazy." She laughs as she takes his hand.

"So you eloped at 18." Ron snickers.

Ginny gives Harry a thankful smile and leans back into him as everyone laughs.

The night ends with Ron trashing Harry at chess. They choose that as their cue to leave, and with one last prank from Fred and George - her keys have "magically" found themselves in the fishbowl, but her remote still somehow works - they head for Harry's flat.

"What did you and Ron talk about on the back steps?" Ginny asks as Harry rests his hand comfortably on her upper thigh.

"He apparently cares a bit more about Hermione than she or I thought. He wanted to know if I thought she'd be willing to see him and some other people they went to university with. I told him I'd give her his card and we'd see what happens."

"If they hook up then we could take a lot of the familial limelight off of us. I'm totally up for anything that doesn't involve my brothers telling you all my embarrassing past relationships and you saving me by sharing yours with my family."

"Well, it definitely isn't my favorite way to save you, but I do what I can." Harry laughs a bit ruefully. "Honestly they were much nicer about that than Dad and Sirius were when they found out about that first kiss."

Ginny gives him an understanding smile, "I can imagine."

"Anyway," Harry runs his hand on her thigh up to massage the back of her neck. "Still up for that nightcap at my place?"

Ginny moans and leans back into his hand, forcing her eyes to stay open and focused on the road. "If it involves more of that then I'm up for anything."

"Anything?" He breathes, his voice low, his hand working magic against her tense muscles.

"Seriously, Potter," Ginny moans, "At least let me get us there before you completely turn off my brain."

Harry's hand slowly slides back down to her thigh as he laughs. "Fair enough, but just know that there will be more brain tampering massages as soon as you park this car."

"I'm holding you to that." And Ginny winks at him, happy that as far as meeting families go, they've more or less lucked out.


	8. Chapter 8

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ginny storms as she looks into her locked car only to see the keys still in the ignition. She'd overslept that morning and had been rushing to get to work on time. The whole day she felt behind and she had even stayed late to get caught up. The catch now was that none of her co-workers she actually knew were still at the office, and she was stranded. Her spare key was tucked safely in her apartment, too far away to do her any good. After kicking the tires in frustration, and instantly regretting the act as she's wearing flats, Ginny tries to calm down enough to think straight.

She pulls out her phone and calls Harry, surely he'll be there to help her out of this one. The phone rings once, twice, three times and then she's sent to voicemail. She's too aggravated to leave a message, so she hangs up and tries again. One ring then voicemail, and now she knows that he's dismissing her calls; so when his suave voice tells her to leave a message, she's a bit curt.

"Hey, I'm stranded at work, and could really use a hand if you'd stop deliberately ignoring me."

Then she texts him,  
**Locked my keys in my car and I'm stranded at work. Please come help.**

It's dark out and Ginny is quickly regretting forgetting her sweater in the back seat. She checks her watch and unhappily acknowledges that it has been all of one minute since she sent her texted plea for help. Her level of frustration builds rapidly with each minute that passes, and those minutes seem to take eons. At last, after fifteen excruciating minutes, her text notification goes off.

**Sorry, love. Totally tied up. Call Luna or your family. Love you.**

Now, Ginny might have been able to be understanding of the situation, but given her current circumstances, she's more or less livid. Needing a friendly female ear, Ginny starts to pull up Luna's number, before remembering that she's off in Finland with her boyfriend and his animal research group. Grudgingly, she dials the brother in closest proximity to her work. One ring and Ron's voice greets her.

"Hey, Gin. What's up?"

Ginny takes a deep breath and tries to speak calmly; she really wants to scream but that isn't going to get Ron to help her. "I need a ride home. I locked my keys in my car at work and the spare is at my apartment."

"Sure thing, I'll be there in about 45 minutes."

"What?" She almost screams.

"Gin, I can't just magically appear someplace instantaneously. It's going to take 45 minutes to get from my office to yours. Just go hang out at your desk and I'll call when I'm there." Ron's voice is a bit condescending and Ginny is fighting with every ounce of her being not to scream at him.

"Right. Thanks for coming to get me. I'll wait for you to call." And she hangs up before she completely loses it.

The 45 minutes could have been an opportunity for Ginny to calm down, but lack of dinner and feeling pushed aside by her boyfriend combined with not being able to gripe about it to her best friend have Ginny stewing in her anger. When Ron arrives, Ginny is angrier than when she called him for help.

Her anger is mildly mollified when he hands over her car keys.

"How?" She asks dumbfounded.

"Fred and George aren't all bad. Some of their tricks are dead useful when you're in a pinch." He smiles at her and Ginny feels like she might cry.

"Thanks, Ron. I really appreciate this."

He wraps an arm around her shoulders and gives her a squeeze. "No problem, sis. Now, go scream your head off at whoever you're pissed at. Oh, and thank you for not taking it out on me."

"Clever git," Ginny chuckles, a touch of the tension easing away, "I'll see you later."

Ron gives her a casual salute as he hops back in his car and drives away.

Ginny's anger is still hot but at least now that she's in her car she can grab dinner and go home. When she does arrive home, her anger is being fueled more by her resentment that Harry didn't have time to help her than that she had a bad day. She's regained mental control enough to realize that it's the last few weeks of him needing to work late and weekends that has her angry, today was just the last straw. Ginny savagely bites into her Chinese takeout as she turns on Netflix. Part of her knows that Harry isn't deliberately ignoring her, but it doesn't change that she feels shunted. They haven't been on a proper date in almost a month, and she actually can't remember the last time either slept over, let alone anything else along those lines.

What makes her most upset is that she misses him, and that might just be what's fueling her anger. Their relationship isn't the same burning fire it was when they started, it's different, less frenzied, and Ginny isn't sure if this is a good change or the beginning of the end.

She's putting away her dinner when her phone rings. Ginny looks at the selfie of her and Harry on her screen before giving into the vindictive part of her and rejecting the call. A few seconds later and her phone buzzes with a voicemail and a text. The background noise in the voicemail tells her he's still at the office.

"Hey, Gin. I wanted to make sure you made it home safe. Love you."

The text is verbatim to his voicemail and Ginny decides tonight she's going to let him know how it feels to be shoved to the side. She doesn't respond. Granted, Harry has never not answered her, but she sets that thought aside and replaces it with how hurt and upset she is from weeks of feeling ignored.

She pours a glass of rosé and pulls out a favorite old book. Her phone on silent and on the coffee table while she reads, she misses the numerous texts, phone calls, and messages from Harry as she leaves the troubles of her current life to escape to the cares and adventures of a different world. So she's a bit taken aback when, shortly after midnight, she hears pounding on her front door followed by Harry's near shout.

"Ginny!?"

Ginny marks her page before opening the door to a rather haggard looking Harry.

"Is your phone broken?" He asks sarcastically.

She doesn't care for his tone and all the hurt and anger come rushing back full force.

"No. It's on silent. I was reading and didn't want to be interrupted."

His face looks both hurt and baffled and Ginny is torn between feeling justified in hurting him as much as he's hurt her and feeling ashamed at how much she's acting like a child.

Harry takes a deep breath before bringing his hand to his hair. "Can I come in?"

Ginny moves out of the door frame and shrugs, "Fine."

Harry moves to her couch as she shuts the door, "I'm sorry I couldn't come to help you tonight," he starts as he sits down, "but damn it all Gin you scared me to death when you ignored my calls, texts, and everything else."

Ginny's still torn, but she sits on the couch as she answers, "I've felt neglected by you and so I guess I wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine." She's looking at the floor, hunched over her knees as her hair falls to cover her face. "We haven't had any real time together in a long time. A few quick phone calls and texts here and there, most of them initiated by me, how am I supposed to feel? I get it, relationships mellow after a while, but this doesn't feel like mellowing Harry, this feels like you pulling away."

She's fighting tears and is suddenly grateful that her hair is hiding her face. All she wants is for everything to go back to how it felt the first time they said I love you when everything seemed perfect.

"It's just work, Gin," Harry starts, but Ginny cuts him off.

"Yeah, yeah, we've had this conversation already, let's not rehash it."

"What do you want me to say, Ginny? That I'll step down? That I'll spend all day trailing you, spending every last second with you?"

"No, you git! I want you to actually need me! I want to know that I fulfill you in ways that your stupid successful company doesn't! Because if your company is all you need then I'm obviously not worth keeping around!" The tears are falling freely now and Ginny half wishes Harry would hold her and half wishes he'd leave and slam the door behind him.

Harry's quiet for a moment before his quiet voice breaks through her sniffling. "Gin, I do need you."

"Well, you're doing a shit job at showing it." Ginny wipes her eyes with her hand before standing to grab the tissue box and returning to the couch. She catches a glimpse of Harry's face, and part of her feels comforted in his stricken look.

"Gin, just because I'm busy doesn't mean I don't need you."

"You make time for what you need, Harry. You make time to eat or sleep or go to the loo."

They sit in silence for a long time, long enough that Ginny's tears have dried and she's calmed a bit before Harry speaks again.

"I'm sorry. Can we talk through this?"

"Alright."

"You said you're feeling neglected. What would make you feel," he pauses before running his hand through his hair, "not neglected."

Ginny can't help herself and chuckles, "Not neglected?"

"You know what I mean." Harry smiles at her and Ginny suddenly feels a small spark of hope.

"You being willing to make time for me. I know you're busy with work, but do you know how long it's been since we've seen each other?"

Harry grimaces and shakes his head, "Er... A couple of weeks?"

"Almost a month, Harry."

Harry buries his face in his hands and groans. "Ok, I've royally fucked up." He sits back up and tentatively reaches his hand out towards her's. Ginny reaches out almost instinctively and smiles at the warmth that comes from the contact.

"I'm sorry. I know this sounds sort of robotic, but what if we had set aside days to be together? Seeing as I've obviously proved myself incapable of being able to budget my time well."

Ginny chuckles because it does sound very robotic, before nodding; she'll take a win when she's given one. "Alright, grab your phone and let's plan out this month. Then those days are blacked out and we can plan out specifics when each day gets closer."

They plan out the days that are guaranteed for them and as they do, Ginny starts to feel the hurt slowly easing away. The planning turns to talking and slowly the connection starts to come back and Ginny starts to think that maybe it's going to be alright. Slowly the hand holding becomes cuddling and the cuddling turns to kissing. Harry pulls away momentarily and groans when he sees that it's almost three in the morning.

"I have a meeting in four hours," He sighs, running a hand through her hair.

Ginny feels the resentment start to return and she tries to push it away.

"What are your plans for lunch today?" Harry asks her, noticing the change in her body language.

"Eating at my desk," She chuckles, the resentment easing back away.

"Pick you up at noon?"

"Alright," Ginny smiles, "I'd like that."

Harry leans in and kisses her again, softly at first before both of them deepen the kiss. Ginny pulls back just a fraction, "Do you need to go home?"

Harry leans in and kisses her again then murmurs against her lips, "Probably."

"Let me rephrase that," Ginny chuckles, "Are you going home?"

Harry moves his lips to her neck, "Not if you'll let me stay." His voice makes her skin vibrate and she moans as her hands find his messy locks.

"Well, you did come all the way here to make sure I wasn't dead, so I guess that I can make some room..."

Harry leans back and grins at her and Ginny can't help herself. "Think you'd be comfortable on the couch?"

Harry's face takes on a look of confusion before Ginny starts laughing.

"Think you're clever, do you?" He asks as his fingers find the ticklish spot on her thigh.

"No!" Ginny yells as she tries to pull away, but she's too late and he tickles her, holding her leg down as he squeezes her thigh. Ginny squirms and laughs until Harry let's up and his lips find hers once more.

"I love you," Ginny smiles, out of breath from laughing so much.

"And I love you," Harry chuckles, resting his forehead against hers.

"I was thinking," she pulls her hand through his hair; "My bed is big enough for the two of us if you're of a mind to share."

He smirks at her and brings his lips back to hers. "I think you've persuaded me, at least for tonight." He stands and reaches for her hand.

Ginny lets him pull her to her feet and they walk back to her bedroom. As Harry pulls his spare PJs from one of her drawers, Ginny realizes that this new level of relationship is a good thing. Talking things out has made her feel closer to him, and the fact that they both have essentials at each other's flats helps to remind her that this isn't some fling. This is something worth working for; this is something worth learning for, bending for. This is love and Ginny's determined to embrace it and everything that goes with it.


	9. Chapter 9

It had started because Harry had to go out of town for work right before Ginny had a big deadline. They'd been blocking out days to see each other for a while now, but this particular month it had been very difficult to find these days and still finish all their work. So Harry had manned up, or at least did his best to hide the way he was shaking like a thirteen-year-old boy asking a girl to dance, and suggested that they simply stay at one or the other's flat the week before he had to leave. Then they'd at least have an hour or two each day before having to be apart for a week. Shockingly for Harry, Ginny was all for the idea.

They'd decided on his flat since it was closer to Ginny's work, and then Gin had the good sense to go through his kitchen and handed him a list of things to buy beforehand so they'd be able to eat dinner each night, something he often would forgo when on his own.

The week had been a mix of awesome and awkward. Sure they'd spent a weekend at the other's place before, on numerous occasions, but this was different. They weren't on an extended date this time. They both had mountains of work to do and were out the door early and back later than normal. Even with their time being work-centric, Harry had loved coming home and making dinner with Ginny, working on the couch late into the evening, and climbing into bed together knowing that they'd wake up and do it again.

But as Harry opens the door to his flat after catching the red-eye home, he feels a bit taken aback by how empty his flat feels. The extras Ginny had brought are all back with her at her apartment and Harry's flat again has that bachelor feel that, until about 15 seconds ago, he was rather proud of. Now, however, it feels cold, incomplete, and a touch drab. Harry plops down on his bed, noting that it feels sort of big now that he's the only one sitting on it. As he pulls everything out of his suitcase and organizes it all, he also realizes it's very quiet as well. Checking his phone and deciding that 7:00 AM is probably just a touch too early to call anyone, he settles for Pandora. He's just thrown the first load of laundry in the washer when his phone buzzes in his pocket.

**Welcome home, Mister Potter. How was your flight?**

Harry smiles at Ginny's text and quickly replies.

**Early, but it's good to be back. How are you?**

Harry slides his empty suitcase under his bed and starts unloading his laptop bag when Ginny's response comes.

**Better now that you're home. Want to grab a bite? Assuming you don't have to work today.**

Harry smirks.

**How long have you been up waiting to ask me out?**

Ginny's response is almost immediate.

**Git. :p I just woke up and would have slept longer on this glorious Saturday if not for my nightmare of an upstairs neighbor who thinks everyone wants to hear opera music at 6:59 AM. Now do you want to come and get me and get breakfast or not?**

Harry's halfway to the door before he hits send.

**Be there in 15.**

Laughing over breakfast regaling the stories from their week apart, Harry has a very specific thought that won't leave him alone. Their week of living together felt so natural and he's trying to come up with some excuse to do it again, but try as he might, nothing comes to mind. Blocking out days now that Gin's deadline is completed and he's back home will be easy, and Harry is grasping at straws for any logical reason for them to need to live together. It doesn't help that he's feeling like he's sixteen again for how nervous he is to even bring up the topic.

"Just say it, love." Ginny chuckles as she takes his hand.

Harry turns red, "What?"

"You have that zoned-out look when you have something you want to say but you don't know how." She smirks at him.

Harry smiles, "Guilty as charged." He takes her hand in his and tries not to stammer too much. "I'm not saying this has to happen now or anything, but I just really loved having you stay over at my place before I left."

"Well," Ginny smiles and links her fingers with his, "I do think we should go back to one of our flats after this and get reacquainted."

Harry squeezes her hand and smirks. "Check please."

Ginny laughs a silvery laugh and Harry finds some level of strength in it and pushes on before he can chicken out. "I think we should consider living together permanently, love."

Ginny's smile falters and she regards Harry with a look of surprise. Harry's pretty sure he hasn't killed their relationship, but he does realize he may have just unintentionally killed the mood.

"I'm not saying we need to decide yes or no today." He hurries to add. "I just think we might be ready for that step is all. I really enjoyed the week before I left. And if you're not ready that's alright. I just wanted to let you know that if you are, I feel like I am too."

Ginny nods, "Let me think on this, yeah?"

"Of course love." Harry's sure his relief is plastered across his face because Gin laughs at him, but he doesn't mind, she's going to think about it and that's something. "Take all the time you need."

Ginny smiles, "I think what we really need is the check." Then she winks at him.

Harry's no idiot, and he flags the waiter.

* * *

It's been almost a month since Harry brought up the idea of living together to Gin, and he's more or less resigned himself to the realization that she doesn't want to live with him. If she did, surely she would have said something by now, right?

He's trying to focus on the emails building up, but Harry's quickly realizing that he's not going to until he's come to terms with Gin's silence on the matter. Problem being he has no clue how.

Contemplating ideas from going for a run to binge-watching his current Netflix addiction, Harry's startled from his thoughts by his phone lighting up on his desk. Harry smiles at the picture of Sirius on his bike, smiling like he's never really turned a day over 20, Marlene's arms thrown around his neck.

"You've got great timing." Harry chuckles as he answers the call.

"Best not be joking mate because I'm parked out front and waiting for you. We're going to lunch Mr. CEO, now get your arse down here, I don't have all day."

"On my way," Harry laughs before locking his computer and sticking his head in Neville's office to let him know he'll be at lunch for a bit.

Giving silent thanks when he steps out of the building and sees that Sirius has shown up in his car and not on his motorcycle, Harry slides into the passenger seat.

"Long time, no see Mr. TooBusyForAnything." Sirius ribs him with a grin.

"Har-har-har," Harry chuckles, "It's good to see you too Mr. EverythingCanBeAJoke."

"I'm glad to see you still remember my name, given how long it's been since you've seen me." Sirius gives him a friendly punch to the arm.

"Thanks for kidnapping me. I was having a hard time focusing." Harry smiles as he falls into the familiar rhythm he and Sirius have always had.

"Always a pleasure to commandeer your freedom." Sirius chuckles as he blows through the orange. "What's got you so distracted?"

Harry hesitates a moment, he isn't sure he really wants to risk the ribbing Sirius is sure to give him. But he knows his godfather well enough to know that Sirius isn't going to layoff now that Harry's admitted to something being up. Sighing dejectedly Harry decides to treat it like a band-aid and just get through the pain as quickly as possible.

"I mentioned to Gin that I thought we were ready to live together about a month ago and she's not broached the subject since."

Sirius lets out a long whistle. "That's definitely a bit distracting."

Harry nods as Sirius pulls into the parking lot of his and Marlene's favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

"How did you and Marlene end up living together?" Harry asks as they get out.

Sirius barks out a laugh, "Marls was smart, she just moved in. I didn't even notice at first either. She'd been staying over pretty consistently, and then one day I realized she hadn't gone home in a while. When I asked her she said she hadn't renewed her rental, and then she handed me half the rent for my place."

Harry chuckles as they sit down at one of the tables, "Had you guys even talked about living together?"

"Sure, but it was always without a timeline. I figured one day it would happen. I was pretty happy after she did move in too. Marls is a much better cook than I am. I'll do dishes all day as long as she's making the meals."

Harry smirks, knowing there are other benefits, but doesn't really want to go there with his godfather. He shakes his head, "I don't think Gin would appreciate me just moving in with her."

Sirius laughs, "I reckon she'd bloody you up a bit if you tried."

"Which leaves me back at waiting till she brings up the topic again, or accepting that somehow I've ruined this relationship and Gin is trying to let me down slow." Harry hangs his head in his hands.

Sirius regards his godson critically, "Maybe Marls and Lils have a point," He says almost to himself, "Your melodramatics are an amazing combination of mine and your dad's, but it is just a touch overdone. Try reigning it in a bit. You have a great delivery, but the content is underdeveloped."

"Not helping." Harry groans.

Sirius chuckles. "Have you thought maybe she's just nervous or scared to make that commitment? Not every road bump in a relationship has to be it ending. Just because you have a problem doesn't mean one party or the other is looking for the escape clause. Take your head out of your arse, Harry, and think about her for a second. Could it possibly not be about you?"

Harry's a bit stung by Sirius' words, but he has to admit that Sirius has a point. When he starts to think about it, Harry realizes that Ginny's a pretty independent and strong person, and she probably had to learn how to be that at a young age given she's the only girl with six older brothers. Moving in with him would signal letting go of a level of that independence, and that would probably be a bit frightening.

Sirius clears his throat and Harry's brought back to the present and the waiter standing next to the table. After quickly ordering and the waiter moving on, Sirius gives Harry a rather pointed stare.

"Ok," Harry concedes, "I was being selfish. When I think about where she's coming from, it actually makes a lot of sense why she wouldn't bring it back up, and you're right, my guess is it has little to do with me specifically."

"There's hope for you yet, mate!" Sirius chuckles, shoving Harry from across the table.

* * *

Ginny slides under the covers next to him and willingly accepts the invitation when Harry moves a pillow closer and raises his arm.

"Today was fun!" She sighs once she's finally comfortable, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist.

"Sure, unless your girlfriend just kicked your trash at mini golf."

"That could potentially dampen the fun," she giggles, "But the apple crisp must have helped make up for it."

Harry laughs and kisses the top of her head, "That it did."

A comfortable silence falls around them when Harry remembers the lunch with Sirius a couple days ago. "Hey, Gin, I didn't realize, when I mentioned living together, what I was asking you to give up. I'm sorry for not thinking that through before I mentioned it, and I want you to know that I'm fine waiting until you're ready for that step."

Ginny spins and pushes up on to her elbow to look at him. "And just what do you think I'm giving up?"

Her tone is a touch intimidating, but Harry wants her to see that he's really trying, so he presses on. "Well, you're a really independent and headstrong woman. I imagine that living with another person, whether romantically or not, would cut in on some of that independence, and I can see how that could make things feel unsure."

Ginny's face is unreadable at first, but then Harry sees the relief start to hit her forehead, and ease into her cheeks, before finally hitting her gold specked brown eyes. "That's a slight oversimplification, but I'll take it."

Harry tries to hide his relief by kissing her. When he pulls away he's mostly regained control of his facial expressions and smiles. "If you wanted a few trial-runs we could do that you know. Do another week here and there without us both being stupid busy and see how it fares."

"We could do that." Ginny cuddles back down against him. "Thanks for understanding, love."

Harry chuckles, "Sirius had to hit me over the head with it, but I get it now."

Ginny laughs, "He did say he was my new favorite person when I first met him. Apparently, he wasn't kidding."

As they slowly drift off to sleep, Harry smiles, grateful this wasn't about him, if it had been, he's sure Ginny would have left him in the dust eons ago.


	10. Chapter 10

"I just need to drop these papers off to Hermione and then we can head over to Luna's." Harry grabs a binder from his computer bag as they're getting ready to head out the door.

Ginny chuckles "Don't get me wrong, I love Hermione, but doesn't she do anything other than work?"

"Hermione sort of replaced her school work with her career when she graduated. Someday I'll think of a way to help her slow down. I thought when she got a cat it would help, but it didn't seem to make much difference."

Ginny nods as they hop in her car. "I thought things with her and my brother would go somewhere but I guess not. He hasn't said a word and he got all sad when I brought it up. So I let it be."

"Hermione changed the subject pretty fast when I asked so I'm guessing things didn't end happily in that reunion. Maybe Luna and Rolf know someone?" Harry smiles at the laugh he earns from Ginny. "You never know." He parries.

Ginny rolls her eyes, "Sure, but can you imagine Hermione with one of Luna's artist friends? Maybe one of the researchers that work with Rolf, but even that is pushing it because they spend nine months of the year on exhibition."

"That's what makes it perfect; she'd only really have a relationship for a quarter of the year."

Harry gives a grunt at the playful shove Ginny gives him. "You, sir, are a terrible human being!"

"But I am your terrible human being." Harry chuckles as he takes her hand so she can't shove him again.

"Your Sirius is showing." She smiles as he brings her hand up to kiss it.

The drive passes quickly but as Ginny turns the corner to the road that Hermione lives on, she almost runs them into the curb from her surprise.

"Shite!" Harry swears as his head hits the window. "What happened, Gin?"

"That's Ron's car." She points to the blue sedan in front of Hermione's building.

Harry eyes the vehicle, "You're sure?"

"I was with him when he bought it; I'd recognize it anywhere." Ginny parks in an empty slot a few cars back from Ron's car.

"Well, that's going to make this drop off interesting." Harry smirks, "Hermione even knew I was stopping by today."

"I'd say she forgot." Ginny laughs cheekily as she takes Harry's hand after he opens the building door.

"You know, maybe we should call her, or come back later." Harry's eyes dance with humor. "I mean they've gone to all this effort to keep it secret from us that they're spending time together, I'd hate to ruin it all."

"Like hell," Ginny bumps his shoulder, "You back out now and I'll call your dad and Sirius and tell them to disinherit you."

"Ah, well" Harry shrugs his shoulders, “Guess I have no choice now," And he knocks on Hermione's flat door.

There's no answer for several moments and so Ginny knocks again. There's still no answer and the couple exchanges an amused look.

"Hermione?" Harry calls out as he knocks for the third time. Suddenly there's rustling on the other side of the door, hushed voices, and a door closing just before Hermione opens the flat door.

"Harry! Ginny! Hi!" Hermione sticks her head just barely out the open door, cheeks flaming, hair rumpled in a way that's hard to accomplish on your own, which only makes it that much harder for Ginny to not laugh.

"Hi Hermione, I brought those papers for you." Harry holds up the binder.

"Papers?"

"The ones about the new patent, you wanted a head start on them and I promised to bring them today." Harry chuckles. "Of course if you don't get to them till Monday then there's no harm done."

"Oh! Right!" Hermione nods emphatically as she takes the binder. "I, er, I'll see if I get to them. I, er, have a few things to do as well."

Harry smiles, "Sure, they can wait till Monday."

"You should have time to work on them Sunday evening since Ron is going to the monthly family dinner." Ginny teases, miraculously holding back the fit of laughter that's threatening to burst out.

Hermione's blush instantly blanches.

"Give Ron our best and enjoy your Saturday." Harry chuckles. "I'll see you Monday." Hermione manages a wordless nod as they turn and walk away.

Harry and Ginny make it out the door before giving into the gales of laughter they've been holding back.

"How long do you reckon they've been seeing each other?" Ginny asks as they climb back into her car.

"Probably two weeks short of when I gave Hermione his business card." Harry smirks, "I'll bet you five quid Ron skips the family dinner."

Ginny laughs, "I'm not taking that because you're right. He'll avoid us at all costs around the family, he'll be afraid that we'll out him."

"I wonder why he'd be worried about that," Harry smirks as his hand trails along Ginny's thigh.

"Because I'm going to oust his secret to the family the minute he shows up while I'm there." Ginny's grin is mischievous, and Harry decides he's very glad to have her with him because having Gin against him is probably the scariest thing he can think of. And when Ron cancels coming to the monthly Weasley family dinner at the last minute, Harry wonders if Ron knows he's only digging himself a deeper hole.


	11. Chapter 11

Ginny pulls her lunch closer to her as she stares at the computer screen, she hates Mondays and this article is going to be the end of her. Why, oh why did they choose these pictures? She's about ready to look and see if she has enough PTO to just leave when a voice sounds behind her.

"You're taking lessons from my girlfriend I see, working through your lunch break and everything."

Ginny grins victoriously as she turns her computer chair around, "So you are dating Hermione!"

Ron chuckles, "Yep, have been for a bit now."

"Are you here to beg for mercy?" She eyes him as he leans against her cubicle wall.

"You guessed it, but before you go off on why I don't deserve it, let me stop you and tell you that yes, I don't. But do you really think Hermione deserves to suffer for all my past grievances?"

Ginny's smile falters a bit, "Is this a trick?"

"No trick," Ron shakes his head, "I really like Hermione, and I don't want this to get screwed up. We didn't say anything because Hermione and I wanted some time to figure out where things were going without the added stress of our families being involved. So for her sake, can we play nice?"

Ginny sighs as she regards her brother's face. She hates when Ron is right; he knows the last thing she wants to do is alienate Hermione. She feels like she and Harry have been together long enough that it wouldn't derail them, but having Hermione upset with her will definitely make things difficult for her and Harry.

"Fine," She slumps her shoulders in defeat, "I'll let you two decide when you'll let the family know."

Ron's face breaks into a smile full of relief. "You are literally the best sister in the world!"

Ginny laughs, "I'm your only sister, Ron, but thanks."

"Hey, I have sisters-in-law, and you're way cooler than they are!"

"Touché," she chuckles, "Now that we've figured that out, I just need to figure this damned article layout."

"Let me see," Ron says as he leans over her. "How much of this biggest picture is necessary? If you could cut it here you would have more room."

Ginny looks critically at the image, "That just might work. I'd have to check with the photographer, but it definitely would make this layout easier. Thanks, Ron."

"Anything to help even the score a bit," Ron smirks and jumps out of arms reach of his sister.

"Yeah, yeah, you big oaf, you definitely need a few more of these favors to do that."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, sis. We'll see you around."

And when Ginny finishes the layout near the end of the day, the picture cropped how Ron had suggested, she's grateful that of all the oafs that could have been her brother, she got Ron.

* * *

Harry smiles when his IM pops up with Hermione's message.

Is there a time I could come in and talk to you?

Anytime is fine today, just stop in. He types back, chuckling at how quickly her away icon pops up.

It’s maybe 30 seconds before Hermione is knocking on his open office door.

"You don't really need to knock, Hermione." Harry smiles as he looks up from his computer.

"I wouldn't want to appear rude." She replies as she shuts the door quietly and sits in one of the chairs in his office.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Harry's smile betrays him; he knows exactly why she's here.

"I wanted to explain about Saturday..." Hermione starts as she wraps her arms around herself.

"I'm happy for you." Harry cuts her off. "If you'll feel better by talking things through then I'm happy to listen, but you don't owe me an explanation."

"Well, thank you, but, aren't you mad that I kept my relationship with your girlfriend's brother from you?" Hermione's face is stricken and Harry stands and moves to sit next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Am I mad? No. Was I initially a bit hurt? Sure, but honestly, you deserve to be happy and if Ron makes you happy then I'm happy. I kind of get why you kept it from me too. I definitely would have told Ginny which would have meant their family would have found out and that probably felt like a lot of pressure. So I get it."

Hermione smiles and lays her head on Harry's shoulder. "For an only child, you certainly make a pretty awesome big brother."

"For the record, I'm your younger brother, that's why I'm more fun." He bumps her shoulder as she laughs. "And if things had worked out differently for Mum and Dad I wouldn't be an only child. Mum was very happy that you guys lived down the street and I had the semblance of a sister in you."

"Well, I'm just happy you turned out to be the best younger brother in Britain. Thanks, Harry."

"Anytime, sis," Harry squeezes her shoulders, "Now then, when you have gone over that patent paperwork, let me know so we can discuss it."

"I'll get right on it!" Hermione straightens saluting Harry and making him laugh.

As Harry is packing up for the day his phone rings and he smiles as he answers Ginny's call.

"You'll never guess who stopped by my office at lunch today." Her voice sounds in his earpiece.

"The other half of the relationship that came and talked to me today?"

Ginny laughs, "You guessed it."

Harry zips his bag closed and laughs, "My place or yours tonight?"

"I'm actually sitting on your couch," she purrs into the phone and Harry is tripping over his own feet as he rushes to get to his car.

"Be there in 20." He chuckles as he tries to keep himself from tripping down the stairs to the parking garage.  



	12. Chapter 12

Ginny smiles as Luna hands her another paint brush. She's not the sort of artist that Luna is, but she loves when they get to paint together like this.

"I like how laid out your paintings always are," Luna comments as she uses the blunt end of a paintbrush to move the paint globs on her canvas around.

"It's why I'm a layout editor." Ginny laughs as she uses the new brush to feather out a section. "I'm glad you and Rolf are back for the next few months. I know you both love the exhibitions, but I miss being able to do things like this."

Luna sets the paintbrush behind her ear, yellow paint getting in her dirty blond hair, and turns to look quizzically at Ginny. "Your aura is off. What are you stressing over?"

"I'm not stressing," Ginny forces a smile.

"Maybe, but something isn't right. Are you having a disagreement with your family or Harry?" Luna's gaze is both comforting and unnerving, and Ginny represses a shudder.

"Really, Luna, everything is great," Ginny assures her as she looks away. Why can Luna see through everything?

"When you're ready to talk about it, I'm always willing to listen." Luna smiles sweetly before retrieving the paintbrush from behind her ear and returning to her painting.

Ginny makes it all of a minute before Luna's silence breaks her. "Why am I so scared?"

"Of painting? I'd blame that on the competitive nature you learned growing up with six older brothers." Luna chuckles at Ginny's pout before setting the paintbrush behind her ear and turning to Ginny.

"Not of painting, of moving in with Harry." Ginny's eyebrows furrow in frustration. "We spend almost all of our time at each other's apartments. Half of what we each own is at the other's place. We coordinate everything with each other. We are basically living together, so why am I so scared of going all the way with it?"

Ginny runs her hands through her hair and as an afterthought dejectedly wonders if the blue paint on her hands has dried or if she's now sporting blue highlights.

Luna regards her for a moment, her face unreadable. "Wolves," she shrugs.

Ginny feels a bit dumbstruck before pushing Luna for an explanation, "I don't follow."

Luna smiles one of her mysterious smiles before grabbing her phone and pulling up a picture of two wolves running away from the camera.

"I took this on the last exhibition. See, wolves mate for life, and once they do, they usually have to leave the current pack behind, especially when food is scarce. It would be a lot more comfortable to stay within the pack that they originated from, but instinct and competition push them to set out on their own." She puts the phone back in her pocket, smiling as if she's explained everything.

I have got to get some more friends, Ginny thinks as she shakes her head. "Luna, what does that have to do with me?"

Luna looks at her critically, as if she's trying to figure out how to make her point plainer. "You're too used to living in the pack - your comfort zone. You need to venture out of it so that you can do more than you could if you stayed."

"So I'm scared because it pushes me outside my comfort zone?" Ginny turns the question over in her head.

"More or less," Luna smiles, "And if you want my advice, be brave and allow yourself to grow."

"You don't live with Rolf," Ginny points out defensively.

"No, but he's a touch traditional on that mark." Luna shrugs, "We all have our quirks."

"What do I do? Go up to Harry and say 'I know I've been dragging my feet forever and I'm scared to death but let's move in together anyway'?"

Luna laughs but nods enthusiastically, "I'd throw an 'I love you' in there somewhere, but yes, do exactly that."

Ginny shakes her head, "Your crazy is rubbing off on me."

Luna's smile turns mischievous, "Good."

* * *

She's picking at her dinner across from Harry as he regales her with an event from work that day. Ginny's trying to pay attention, but her conversation with Luna from last evening is still haunting her.

"Gin?" Harry's hand gently grabs her wrist.

"Sorry," she forces a smile, "I got lost in thought, I didn't mean to ignore you."

Harry's face takes on a look of confusion and concern. "Are you feeling alright?"

Ginny's smile becomes genuine, "I'm fine, love. I just got thinking about something and my mind ran away with it."

Harry relaxes visibly, but not entirely. "You're sure we're alright?"

Ginny takes his hand in hers, "Definitely."

"Good," he squeezes her hand, "How was your evening with Luna yesterday?"

Ginny hides the sigh that starts to escape her with a false yawn. "It was lovely. I think I like this painting enough to hang it up even."

Harry grins, "You could hang all of them up at my flat you know. I'd actually be quite fond of that."

Ginny's still a touch distracted and so she speaks before realizing what she's saying. "We'd just have to take them all back down when I move in."

Harry freezes and the air is suddenly thick and Ginny thinks it might choke her as she realizes what was meant to be an internal thought has been vocalized.

Harry clears his throat, "So...?" He leaves the question hanging, and Ginny thinks that the air is most certainly getting thicker as her throat seems to be tightening all the more. She knows she needs to say something, anything at this point, and in the softest whisper, she manages to get out one word.

"Wolves."

Harry stares at her, his mouth agape. "What?"

Damnit. Luna really is rubbing off on me. Ginny struggles to salvage some level of dignity. "I, I mean, er," she stutters, "I need to be brave and, er, step outside my comfort zone." She finishes lamely.

She can't bear to look up at him and Ginny is sure that her face is the same shade as her hair at this point. Smooth Gin, real smooth.

"Ginny," Harry's voice pulls her back. "Gin, look at me."

Ginny sighs and forces herself to look up at him. His green eyes are shining bright but his face is all business. "Gin, I want to live with you. But, I want you to want to live with me. I don't want you to do this unless you feel like you're ready and most specifically like you want it too."

Ginny looks across the table at him and all of the emotion and confusion of the last few months come tumbling out faster than she can express them all.

"I'm scared, Harry. I've not lived with anyone since I left home for university. I'm scared of how much investment this is, and that it means if we do go south I'm going to suffer more than if we weren't living together. I'm scared that if I don't give it a go that we ultimately will fall apart and I can't bear that thought either. And I'm scared that if we do move in together we might find we hate it and fall apart anyway." Ginny can feel the lump rising in her throat and her chest tightens but she's determined not to cry.

Harry stares at her for a moment before moving his chair over next to her and wrapping her in his arms. Damnit, Harry, she silently curses as the tears begin to fall. He holds her and she holds onto him as the tears run their course and Ginny feels in control again.

"How long have you been holding all of that in?" Harry asks as he hands her a napkin.

"Since you brought up living together," Ginny chuckles. "I didn't really have all of it figured out right then, but that's when it started."

Harry nods and holds her close. "Gin, I'm scared too, for a lot of the same reasons, but fear is what keeps us from moving forward. I can't promise you that things will end perfectly if we move in together, but I also can't promise that they will if we don't."

Ginny chuckles, "Right ball of sunshine you are."

"You know what I mean though, yeah?" Harry pokes her side making her jump in his arms, and eliciting a small shriek accompanied by a playful glare. "There isn't anything about any relationship that is guaranteed because relationships consist of two imperfect people. But, as long as both those people are committed to doing their best to make it work, they'll go a long way."

Ginny smiles a small smile and nods her head against his chest. "My rental agreement has to be renewed by the end of next month if I want to stay."

"Do you want to renew it?" Ginny can feel Harry tense just slightly as he waits for her answer. She looks around at the place she's called home for the last few years and smiles.

"Nah, my upstairs neighbor is obsessed with opera music and frankly I'm about ready to burn down the building if I wake up to Carmen one more time." Ginny feels Harry relax against her and she raises her head to look at him. "My only problem is finding a new flat."

"I'm sure I could make some room for you at my place." Harry smiles and leans in to nuzzle her neck just below her ear. "At least until you decided where you wanted to end up."

Ginny sighs and melts against him, "And if I decided I liked it with you, could we make some sort of long-term arrangements?"

Harry moves from kissing her neck to her chin to her cheek before whispering in her ear, "I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement."

And as his fingers slide under her shirt, Ginny's fingers spear through his hair and bring his lips to hers. She kisses him with all the excitement, fear, and love she feels in the moment, and a part of her feels liberated, like a chain that had been somehow holding her back had just broke, and her new freedom seems endless.


	13. Chpater 13

­ Harry smiles over at Ginny engrossed in a novel of some sort when his phone goes off and he opens Ron's text.

**Spare ticket for the Forest game tonight! You in?**

Harry sighs.

"Everything alright, love?" Ginny asks, not looking up from her book.

"Yeah, your brother wants me to go see Nottingham Forest play tonight." Harry runs his hand through his hair. "Why couldn't Ron like a team that actually plays well?"

"Why couldn't he like a team where their colors didn't match our hair color?" Ginny chuckles as she turns a page.

Harry chuckles, knowing how badly the bright red of the team's logo clashes with the Weasley red hair. "I like a good match, but watching them play is painful."

"You don't have to go, Harry," Ginny comments as she turns another page.

"As crazy as it sounds, I rather like your brother." Harry laughs at her incredulous snort. "And while I don't care for watching his team play, I do care for his company. So I think I'll go suffer through it in exchange for the drinks and food afterward."

Ginny gives him a smirk. "I want to know what Hermione's excuse was for not being able to go. Ron's had those tickets for a few weeks and I assumed they were meant as a date."

"Maybe," Harry shrugs, "I'll let you know if he mentions anything, but I wouldn't hold my breath for it."

* * *

Harry's happy to say he endured a rather pathetic display of football reasonably well. Especially when you consider that the team's number one fan was sitting next to him the whole match. But with the poor excuse of the game over, Harry's much more interested in the pub grub and craft beer before him. He's happily digging in when Ron clears his throat.

"So, er, there's something I've been meaning to bring up with you, and this is as good a time as any."

Harry eyes Ron as he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "Alright." Harry nods him on.

"Well, see, since you and I have sort of become friends and all, my brothers decided I should be the one to bring it up." Ron avoids his gaze and Harry flinches at how uncomfortable Ron obviously is.

"I promise we're using protection, Ginny has things figured out on that end." Harry chuckles, making a mental note to tell his dad about that one.

"Come on, mate!" Ron groans, "That wasn't what I was getting at!"

"Well then out with it." Harry hides his smile behind his beer as he takes another drink.

"We, er, I guess they, want to know if you ever plan on marrying Ginny or if you two are just going to do the whole not married but together for decades thing? And, er, well, Bill wanted me to assure you that if you're leading her on, he'll, er, make things unpleasant." Ron stares into his beer, his shoulders hunch forward as if he could somehow fit inside his glass and avoid the uncomfortable discussion altogether.

Harry feels his heartbeat quicken and his hands become sweaty as they sit in heavy silence. Finally, Harry takes a deep breath and lays it out. "I'll be honest, I do want to marry your sister. But seeing how long it took to get to a point where she felt right moving in together, I'm not wanting to push my luck. I'll be patient now if it means spending my life with her, rather than be pushy and lose her for good."

Ron maintains his uncomfortable position and nods. "Right, well, makes sense I suppose. I'll let them all know that and hopefully, they'll lay off me about it."

Harry gives Ron a friendly shove, "Where's your backbone, Weasley?"

Ron shoves him back indignantly. "My backbone is right here! I've just learned with my family to pick my battles. I'd have a very sore back if I didn't."

Harry chuckles, "While we're on the whole intervention wave, may I remind you that it's never too late to pick a proper team?"

"Shove off, Potter!"

They both laugh as the awkward tension eases away and they go back to being just two mates eating good food and talking about a rubbish football game.

* * *

Harry would like to think that he's got things figured out in his relationship with Ginny. They've been living together a good while now and he knows how to really piss her off and how not to. He feels like he's got a good grip on communicating with her, although he knows that's going to take a few more decades of practice to get down really well. But despite all this, he's feeling a bit unsure, at least since his chat with Ron last week. Her brothers seemed to think it was time to be moving forward, well her older brothers, Ron had made it sound like he was just the messenger. _So, maybe I'm reading things wrong?_ Harry shakes his head again and grabs his keys before letting Neville know he's going to be working from his phone for the rest of the day.

Harry's childhood home is quiet except for the Led Zeppelin album playing in the background when Harry walks in.

"Dad?" He calls out as he heads towards James' home office.

"Harry?" James sticks his head out of the office door. "What brings you around?"

"Nice to see you too," Harry chuckles. "I was hoping you'd help me work through something."

"I'm rubbish with computers, son," James smirks.

Harry smiles and shakes his head as he sits in one of the comfy chairs in his dad's office. "It's about me and Gin." He starts. "I'm sure Sirius told you about helping me be patient till she was ready to live together, and it definitely paid off. Living with her has been great, hard sometimes, but still great. But the other day, Ron told me her other brothers were wondering if I was going to get around to marrying her or what."

"Well, obviously you want to marry her," James interjects.

"Exactly," Harry agrees, "But the absolute last thing I want to do is scare her off, you know?"

James nods before grabbing his phone. "We need Remus. Your mum and I married young and we were pretty set on it from the get-go. But Remus definitely gets the 'don't want to scare her off' thing. He talked to me about that a lot when Dora came around."

His phone rings on speaker twice before Remus answers. "You know I'm in office hours, James."

"Ah, but you wouldn't have answered the phone if a student was there Professor Lupin." James chuckles. "Don't get your knickers in a twist, it's about Harry. He's giving me the 'I don't want to scare her off speech' so rather than stumble through that the way I did with you, I'm delegating. Instruct, oh great teacher!"

Harry's hiding his laugh behind his hand as Remus sighs. "Ok, Harry, tell me what's up."

"Well, it took a while for her to feel ready to live together, I don't want to scare her off by throwing a ring at her." Harry runs his hand along the back of his neck.

Remus chuckles over the phone speaker, "That's an original way to propose. You were a rubbish child cricket player though, I'd practice before you give it a go."

James bursts out in laughter and Harry groans. "I think Sirius learned everything he knows from you," Harry comments dejectedly.

"Don't let him tell you differently," Remus replies calmly. "Now then, to fulfill my honorary uncle duties. You're worried about scaring her off by proposing too soon. My question is, have you asked her about her future and if that includes marriage to you?"

Harry gapes at the phone, "You mean basically decide we're going to get married before I propose? Doesn't that sort of kill the romance?"

Remus chuckles, "The movies that they make across the pond would definitely have you think that. But Harry, the relationships that last are the ones that are open and honest. You can still create a surprising and romantic proposal having already determined that's where you're headed. Besides, almost no one meets their soulmate and proposes to them two weeks later."

"Speak for yourself!" James interjects.

Harry can practically hear Remus roll his eyes. "Sorry, I should have added that the girl says 'yes' to that proposal, as opposed to turn bright red and run away."

James snorts in response and makes a face at the phone.

"Anyway," Harry chuckles, "Is that what worked for you and Dora? Talking things out beforehand?"

Remus' smile is evident in his voice. "It worked for Dora. She sat me down and made her desires very plain when it became clear I wasn't going to budge. And Dora is rather bright so I'd say she's a decent example to follow."

"And if all else fails you can just move back home." James laughs.

Harry shudders, "I know what you and Mum get up to. I'll get a hotel room."

Remus laughs, "Any other help needed?"

"No, thanks Remus, I appreciate it." Harry smiles at the phone before realizing Remus can't see him.

"Anytime! We'll see you next week for Teddy's day with you and Ginny."

"Bye Rems! Give all those astronomy students of yours a pop quiz for me!"

Remus laughs before the call disconnects.

"See you can always count on good ol' dad to help you out," James smirks at Harry as he puts his phone away.

Harry laughs, "Yep, you always know who to call when you're unqualified."

James gives Harry a pout, "There goes your Christmas gift, mate."

* * *

To say Harry is feeling nervous as he walks into his flat building would be a gross understatement. He's terrified of what he's planning on, but if it worked for Dora and Remus, he's pretty sure it will work for him and Gin. His hand shakes as he reaches for the lift button and the ride up seems to take decades, but the walk from the lift to his door-their door-feels miles long. Somehow he makes it to their door and turns his key.

"Harry!" Ginny smiles from the sofa. "You're home early!"

The sight of Ginny seems to help calm him a small bit, and he manages to return her smile as he sits next to her.

"I left work and took some time to think a couple hours ago." Harry reaches over and takes Ginny's hand. "And if you're of a mind, I'd, er, like to talk about us, and, er, where we see ourselves down the line."

Harry's heart is thundering in his chest so loud he's worried Ginny will hear it. But she squeezes his hand and nods.

"Alright, where do you want to start?"

Harry tenses, _so much for hoping she'd just telepathically know what I wanted to know_. "Well, er, do you see yourself, er, that is to say, married at some point?"

Ginny gives him a nervous laugh and a shy smile. "I suppose I do."

Harry's chest seems to both explode in relief and tighten all the more in anticipation for his next question.

"And, well, am I in that future you see yourself in?"

Ginny's smile starts to take on a smirk, "I certainly want you to be."

And then Harry is nervous for a whole new set of reasons, but he leans in and kisses her softly before pulling away. "I see myself with you in my future too, and at some point down the line married as well."

Ginny smiles in a way that lights up her eyes and Harry is taking it in when she chuckles. "And do you see yourself with children at some point down the line as well?"

Harry's smile is bright and he leans in to whisper against her lips, "Assuming a certain redhead is involved, I definitely see myself with children down the line." Ginny leans forward catching his lips in hers and Harry is about ready to make this much more than kissing when Ginny pulls away and smirks at him.

"Well I'm sure Ron would love to be a godfather but whom do you plan on having said children with?"

Harry stares at her for all of a second before laughing and kissing her again, proceeding to show her exactly what he meant.


	14. Chapter 14

Ginny knows she has a temper; it's something she inherited from her mother. She has a tendency to overreact, to be a bit sharp, and to jump to conclusions. Months ago she and Harry established that they both had marriage in mind for their next step. Harry had asked for some ideas about the kind of ring she had in mind a bit later. At that point, Ginny had been sure a proposal was coming soon. She became highly alert any time they did something out of the norm, and sometimes even certain routines started to feel suspiciously like a proposal set up. But nothing came.

Then, last month, Harry had surprised her with a romantic getaway, and Ginny thought she had finally made it. She was so sure there would be a proposal she blew up her Pinterest feed with wedding ideas. The long weekend had been amazing and she loved every second of it, but there was no proposal. Ginny hid all signs of disappointment, she was determined not to get hung up on something that they had agreed would happen, but part of her was, well, angry. That was when it all started going downhill.

Ginny didn't begrudge Harry the opportunity to choose when he wanted to propose, but she felt he was dragging it out at this point just to annoy her. All of the sudden she noticed every moment he kneeled down to grab something from the floor or tie his shoelaces or whatever mundane and perfectly normal thing that required him to stoop to the floor. And don't get her started on how often Harry seemed to say "Ginny, will you" these days. "Ginny, will you...pass the butter?" "Ginny, will you...hand me my phone?" "Ginny, will you...? Ginny, will you...?" She's pretty sure that if she hears those three words again not followed by two very specific words, she might scream in frustration!

It's been a few weeks of feeling this way, and Ginny has done her best to try and speed up the process. She went to Hermione and Hannah to see if they could convince Ron and Neville to say something. Both girls promised to help and offered sympathy, and a glass of rosé. Luna's on exhibition, but her advice when they did a video call a week ago was to just propose first. Ginny definitely considered it, but she kind of wants Harry to do it. If they hadn't already decided it was happening, she'd be more up for making the move, but Harry already knows her answer, so why is he taking forever?

She's stewing over it while they make dinner, one of her favorite albums playing in the background. They were a bit adventurous and went for trying their hand at lasagna, which all the components taste good but somehow what's baking in the oven is probably the worst looking lasagna in the history of making lasagna. But they are that couple where the food they make tastes alright but looks like a three-year-old assembled it.

They're ripping lettuce for the salad when the timer beeps loudly and Harry quickly turns it off before grabbing the oven mitt. Ginny curses herself when her breath catches as he kneels in front of the oven to pull the lasagna out. Harry is oblivious though and returns to tearing lettuce with her.

"Something the matter, love?" Harry catches her disgruntled look and gives her an encouraging smile.

Ginny groans inwardly. _He really needs to listen to Ron and Neville, assuming they've said anything. Maybe I can hint at it? Worth a go._

Ginny hesitates before starting her story, "Yeah, there's an issue with work. We've already decided how everything is going to go for a specific change to the magazine, but I can't do my part until someone else does theirs. I really don't understand why they're taking so long either. We've all agreed on the change, they were even the ones who brought up the idea in the first place, so it isn't as though this is unknown territory. I honestly think they're being slow just to annoy me."

Harry nods, "That's tough, but at least you know they'll have it done by whatever deadline was set, or your editor will probably find someone else to give the task to."

Ginny fights the urge to roll her eyes. _Trust Mr. CEO to completely miss the point, maybe we should have set a freaking deadline._ Ginny manages a nod and a forced smile.

"Who is the lazy arse?" Harry asks as they finish tearing the lettuce. Ginny is trying to decide who at work to pin this on when Harry suddenly kneels and Ginny's heart nearly stops as he speaks, "Ginny, will you...toss this in the bin?" His hand holds out a piece of lettuce that must have fallen to the floor.

Under a different set of circumstances, Ginny probably would have been able to laugh this off or to have made a sarcastic remark in an attempt to ease her aggravation. But she's made the mistake of dwelling on it for too long, and the humor has gone out of the situation entirely.

"What are you on about?!?" Ginny nearly screams at him. "Are you playing me? Is this some sort of fucking game? Or are you really just so oblivious that you've no idea the ride you're putting me through?"

Harry stares at her dumbfounded. "I...er...Gin? What's...? What's going on?"

His lack of comprehension just seems to fuel the fire and so she carries on yelling. "What's with all these ‘almost proposals'? I swear you've never kneeled more since we talked about getting married than you have in your entire fucking life! And you NEVER used to say 'Ginny will you... ' at all but now that we've decided we both want to get married you say it ALL the time! But you've not once until just now combined the two. Whatever part of your brain that actually thinks seemed to know not to do that, but apparently you've killed that part because the first time you kneel down in front of me and start a sentence with 'Ginny, will you...' it's too toss some trash! Damnit all, Harry! Will you just marry me already?!?!"

She's breathing hard and her hands are clenched, but Harry's now wearing a stupid grin on his face, which she's about to go off the handle about when he reaches a hand into his pocket and pulls out a small velvet box.

"I love you more than anything, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Ginny, will you marry me?"

Ginny's heart melts, but her mind still has a bit of an edge leftover from the anger she'd built up over the last few weeks. "Don't avoid my proposal by making your own, that's cheating! Answer my proposal first, since I asked first, and then I'll answer yours."

Harry looks dumbfounded again at her words, but a smirk quickly finds his face. He stands and brings his lips almost to hers before he clearly whispers, "With all my heart, yes!"

Ginny goes to kiss him, but he pulls away. "You got your answer, now I want mine before anything else."

She smirks up at him before nodding, "Of course I'll marry you! You..." But before she can continue Harry cuts her off, kissing her enthusiastically.

They're a fair bit disheveled when they finally break apart for air, and Harry tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry for making you feel like I was messing with you." His face is drawn and his tone regretful. "I was being stupid."

Ginny smirks, "Yes, you were. What were you doing? I thought for sure that the holiday was the set up for this."

Harry's face goes red and he drops his eyes, "Well, technically, it was."

"And..." Ginny prompts mercilessly.

Harry sighs and starts moving dinner to the table. He mumbles something and Ginny isn't sure what he said. Setting their glasses on the table she sits in her chair and stares Harry down.

"I love you, but you've put me through a small hell these past weeks and I feel you owe me an explanation."

Harry sighs and rests his head in his hands. "The holiday was when I wanted to propose and was my original plan. But when we got to the hotel I realized that I'd left the ring here. I couldn't really run back and grab it, or have someone bring it to me, and I didn't trust to have someone overnight it to us, so I tried to make sure we just had fun. Then I kept trying to find the right time, but nothing seemed right or good enough. So I took to carrying the ring everywhere so that I'd be ready if a moment came up spontaneously. But everything seemed so mundane or kitsch or just plain awful that I was actually starting to feel a bit panicked about it."

Harry takes a deep breath to try and calm down before gesturing to Ginny to serve herself.  Which she does as she asks, "What about all the kneeling? And asking 'Ginny will you...' all the time? It's been driving me mad! You know I went to Hermione and Hannah to recruit Ron and Neville, oh and that work story was about you."

Harry still won't look at her, and now it looks like he's attempting to blend into his chair. He grimaces as he stutters, "I, er. Well you see, I was, kind of, er, practicing." He says the last word almost in a whisper.

It's Ginny's turn to look dumbfounded now. "You were practicing?!?!?"

Harry gives her an almost imperceptible nod.

"But you knew I was going to say yes!" Ginny's about to go off again when Harry cuts her short by looking up at her.

"That doesn't change that I still wanted it to be perfect for you. Just because I knew you would say yes doesn't mean you don't deserve to have a wonderful proposal story or to know that I love you so much that I want it to be special, that I want to look back and know that I got it right!" Harry picks up his fork and starts pushing around his food, his eyes pricked with tears.

Ginny stares for a moment shocked at Harry's words as she internalizes them. At one point in her relationship with Harry her mother had pulled her aside and simply said, "You need to remember that it's not all about you." Maybe this is one of those times to remember that.

"I love our proposal story." She says quietly. "A story of a man who loved a woman so much he wanted it to be perfect, and a woman who simply wanted him." Ginny reaches across the table and Harry's hand meets her halfway, a small smile replacing the distraught look that had been there before.

"Really?" Harry asks, squeezing her hand.

"Really," Ginny nods as Harry toys with the new ring on her finger. "And I also really think we should eat before this lasagna needs to be reheated."

They chuckle together before digging in and the topic of conversation turns to who to tell tonight, and when to post on social media, and ideas for their wedding date, among other things. When they finally end up snuggled under the covers, this time to fall asleep, Harry's arm wrapped around her waist, Ginny falls asleep smiling at the open velvet box on her nightstand, and the ring that she gets to put on every day for the rest of her life.


	15. Chapter 15

Harry's perched on the edge of the bed as he watches Ginny prep for her bachelorette party.

"You're going to have every bloke you run across wishing that ring wasn't there." Harry chuckles as he silently wishes she wasn't going out, and that he wasn't either.

"I think we should put a ring on you." Ginny shoots back, turning to eye him in that way that makes Harry blush like a sixteen-year-old kid.

"We're just going to Ron's favorite sports bar so he doesn't miss the Forest game and then Neville said we'll pub crawl from there." Harry shrugs, "I'm more concerned about making sure we all get home in one piece."

"Which is why Neville knew he didn't need to assign a babysitter for the group; he knew you'd appoint that to yourself regardless," Ginny smirks at him and with the top she's wearing plus that look she's giving him Harry's more or less forgotten that they both have their respective parties to get to. Before he knows it he's kissing her and he's pretty set on keeping this going when there's an annoying knocking sound in the background followed by what he thinks is Hermione's voice. He's almost decided to ignore it when Ginny pulls away.

"Those are the girls; I need to get going if we're going to make the showing at the cinema." Ginny's smile tells him she’s all but laughing at him at this point, "And I'm sure it's just about time for you to get to the pub as well dear."

Harry sighs and releases Ginny from his embrace. "Don't forget where we left off," He chuckles running a hand along her waist. “I do want to pick that back up at the next possible opportunity."

Ginny smirks at him running a hand into his hair, "I'm sure I can be persuaded." And she kisses his cheek before turning for her clutch.

"Be safe, yeah?" Harry says as she goes to the door.

"I love you too. And you should probably wipe that lip gloss off before you leave," Ginny winks at him and then she's out the door.

Harry hears her leave and then cleans his face off before heading over to the pub, and a game that's already half over, thank goodness.

The game ends, after what felt like an eternity, to a pub full of disappointed fans, "You know the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result, right?" Neville ribs Ron as they enter the next pub.

"It's just bad management. We'll get a better owner one of these days and then you'll see the team really take off!" Ron chuffs.

Harry laughs but places their order. He's happy about the brew laid before him, but he's happier still for the Scotch eggs that show up shortly after.

"My mum always ruined these," Ron sighs happily after devouring one. "Does Ginny make them?"

Harry shakes his head, "Gin and I have decided that frying things in-house isn't the best idea. It only takes the pan catching fire once for us."

"Wait?" Neville chokes on his beer, "Did you almost burn down your building?"

"Not really," Harry laughs a light blush rising to his cheeks for the **reason** they'd forgotten about the oil heating on the stove. "Gin threw me the fire extinguisher and we got it out, but it was tense for a moment. So no, Gin doesn't make these."

"Probably best," Ron laughs, "On all accounts."

Their crawl continues and Harry is definitely tipsy but he's managed to drink slow and eat a lot, so he's more or less able to think and function. It's getting late and they walk into what will be their final pub when Harry sees the last person he thought he'd see on this crawl. Sitting at the bar is Ginny, with Luna and Hermione on her left. He smiles but decides to let them have the rest of their evening; he'll have time with her when they get home. Harry pulls the lads into an open table where he can admire his fiancé from a distance and Neville grabs their drinks and food.

It's been fun but Harry is pretty distracted as he watches Ginny. He knew that she'd get advances from other men, but having to **watch** it has been an entirely different matter than knowing it was going to happen. The bartender hands her and the girls assorted drinks pointing to the different tables they're coming from. The girls smile and wave but politely decline the invitations to join the tables. It's when men start coming to sit next to Ginny that Harry has to remind himself that she can take care of herself, not to mention she doesn't know he's here. Ginny does fine on her own fending off advances, and Harry's satisfied smirk grows wider with each bloke that returns to his table.

But the smirk fades as one blonde bloke doesn't seem to get the hint. Ginny's face tells him she's made her point clear but the bloke doesn't leave the seat next to her.

"Harry?" Neville asks as Harry stands and heads towards Ginny. Harry doesn't even give him a backward glance.

"I'm sorry sir, but I believe the lady has made her stance on your advances clear. It's time for you to leave."

Ginny starts at Harry's voice, but the man turns on him. "What my wife and I discuss is none of your business, Lancelot. Now shove off!"

Harry doesn't even think about it, his fist flies of its own accord. What surprises him is when the man's head seems to push back against him. That's when he notices that Ginny's fist has hit the man square on the opposite side. He looks up at her and her face mirrors his look of surprise. The blonde man starts to speak and Harry's brought back to the situation at hand.

"You actually have the pleasure of speaking to the lovely lady's fiancé." Harry cuts him off. Ginny dissolves into laughter at that and Harry can't help but smile.

"Shall we go home, dear?" Ginny manages to choke out between her laughter, while the man has started to shout threats and yell for the police.

"I think that's best," Harry chuckles, nodding to the bouncer as he approaches.

"Thanks for a great night, Neville, Ron." Harry bids them goodnight while Ginny says goodnight to the girls. "I'll explain everything tomorrow."

They walk out the door and Harry's about to pull out his phone for a ride home when Ginny's arms snake around his neck and her lips capture his. He's tipsy enough to readily return her advances, and he realizes he's more than tipsy when he flips off the several cars that honk at them, which has him quickly realizing that they need to get home if this is going to continue.

"Gin," he pulls back, "As much as I'm enjoying this, we should really continue it at home."

Ginny groans, "Home is so far away, and I want to ravish you now!"

"How drunk are you?" Harry laughs as he uses his phone to request a ride.

"I **might** have a hangover in the morning." Ginny shrugs, and whether her death group on his arm is from drunkenness or attraction, Harry isn't going to worry about at the moment.

"I'm sorry I ruined your bachelorette party." Harry sighs and takes Ginny in his arms. "I guess I've had one too many."

Ginny laughs, "You didn't ruin anything, love. I hit him too if you remember. How long had you been here? I didn't see you until you came up to kill the bloke."

"We got here about an hour or so ago. I didn't want to intrude on your party. Now I'm thinking I should have."

Ginny purrs into his ear and runs her hands up his arms, "Nah, I wouldn't be this turned on if we hadn't punched him together."

"Where is that car?!?" Harry growls into her ear.

Later that night Harry and Ginny are in a mess of tangled sheets and blankets, Gatorade and ibuprofen on their nightstands.

"I can't believe that guy called me his wife," Ginny muses quietly, "I would never marry anyone who bleached their hair that close to white!"

Harry chuckles, "Go to bed, you're drunk."

Ginny blows some hair from her face, only to have it land right back where it was. "So 'r you," She smiles as Harry tucks the lock of hair behind her ear.

"Maybe, but not nearly as much as you, love."

She runs her hands over his chest, "But you love me drunk too, right?" Her face looks so vulnerable and Harry suddenly feels an odd combination of protective instinct and regret having made her feel like he loved her less when drunk.

"Of course I do, Gin!" He wraps his arms around her and kisses her softly.

Ginny sighs, "Oh good," and then she begins to tickle him mercilessly, causing Harry to yell and squirm, "Because I'm not really that drunk!"  



	16. Chapter 16

Ginny can feel the morning sun slowly start to pull her out of a cozy dreamless sleep. She really doesn't want to give up just yet so she burrows deeper into the amazingly soft pillows and duvet. Where do some hotels get these perfect pillows? I'd pay a fortune for them! She wonders as she tries to drift back to sleep. The duvet curls around her naked curves and she sighs contentedly. Then there are warm hands on her hips and lips on her neck and Ginny sighs for a whole different reason.

"I'm asleep," She whispers as she curls into Harry.

"I'm sure," He chuckles as his hands begin to wander across her skin.

"You should let sleeping women lie." But she can't stop the moan that escapes as his lips find that spot behind her ear.

"And what about my sleeping wife?" He murmurs against her and that one word combined with everything he's doing has all thoughts of sleep gone. But given that she's pretty sure she saw it was 10 in the morning on the nightstand clock before her eyes sought out a much better view, being awake isn't the worst thing.

Unfortunately, all the fun they're having comes at the price of nourishment, which ultimately finds the newlywed couple sitting on the bed with the room service menu open between them.

"Anything tickle your fancy?" Harry volleys as he runs a hand along her bare back.

Ginny smirks at him, "Well you're quite good at it but seeing as I've already had you," She grins wickedly at the small blush that rises to Harry's neck before continuing. "Anyway, I don't think I want room service right now. I think I'd like to walk around and find something new that we haven't tried before."

Harry chuckles before standing and throwing a pair of underwear at her. "Then dress, Madame."

They hit the street and choose all sorts of random ways to decide where they go everything from flipping a coin to choosing the first road that has the letter 'g' in it. They've been wandering maybe 10 minutes when she spots the Italian gelato shop.

"That!" Ginny smiles pointing up at the sign.

Harry laughs, "You may be able to survive off of sugar alone but some of us need more than sweets to thrive." Then he gestures a bit further down the lane, "Let's hit that deli there and then we'll swing back to your ice cream."

Ginny gives him a bit of a pout, "It's gelato, not ice cream, and if you must have other food then fine."

Harry brings their held hands up to his lips and kisses the back of her hand. "You'll be happy I ate real food later on," and his wink and smirk have Ginny laughing wickedly as they enter the deli.

Their sandwiches are actually really good, but Ginny is practically bouncing to get out the door. When they finally enter the gelato shop she's not disappointed. The atmosphere is everything she expected it to be and the woman behind the counter proudly opens the door to the kitchen to show that her 65-year-old father is still back there making all their gelato in the original machines he bought 40 years ago.

They order and take their gelato to a bench outside the shop. Ginny's licking her cone, lost in the sensation of an amazing dessert when Harry starts laughing. One look at the gorgeous man, his eyes dancing behind his black-rimmed glasses, tells Ginny he's laughing at her.

"Care to share?" There's an edge in her voice and if Harry catches it he doesn't let it show.

"I'm just experiencing something akin to deja vu," he smirks.

"Really?" Ginny eyes him suspiciously before returning to her cone. "And what exactly are you feeling deja vu about?"

Harry chuckles, "Well you seem to like the ice cream-"

"Gelato," she interrupts.

Harry ignores it, "And I couldn't help but remember a time with another dessert. If I remember correctly, you reacted much the same way you are now - like you needed a private room to eat it in." He smirks at her and Ginny curses the heat she can feel on her cheeks.

"Well, if you had any real taste in sweets," Ginny takes a deliberately slow lick of her cone, "You'd know that both desserts are worth the reaction." And just to get back at him, Ginny gives him a quiet, wanton sigh.

Harry's eyes go wide for a moment, and Ginny smirks at him. He seems to regain control and as Ginny pops the last of her cone into her mouth, Harry sets his plastic bowl and spoon aside.

"At one point you thought I was better than one of those desserts," he breathes quietly near her ear and Ginny can't help but shiver, "How about the other?"

She's tempted, oh is she tempted to tease him and make him sweat it out. And if she's being honest she does a bit. She makes it look as though she's really considering the question. But when his hand runs up her thigh, all the memories of the past few years come rushing forward. The horrible blind date that led her to escape to her favorite restaurant, the nerves of a budding romance, the fights of an established relationship, the fears and anxiety of big changes, their wedding just days earlier, and then everything that could come, that will come, in their future together. And maybe it's because of that, or maybe it's because they're on their honeymoon, or maybe it's something entirely different, but Ginny turns and proceeds to snog her husband senseless. And when she pulls away she murmurs against his lips, "Nothing will ever top you."

Then Harry's lips crash into hers and Ginny doesn't care that they're snogging in public like a couple of teenagers because she's happy, and she's found someone who will go through it all with her, who loves her and she loves him, and if some molten chocolate lava cake - or real Italian gelato - gets thrown in along the way then she's not going to complain.


	17. Chpater 17

If you enjoyed Cake, I have a story called Desserts that I continue updating with one-shots from this universe.  I take requests for Desserts as well.


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